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THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 


THE  JBBET   CLASSICS—I 


SIR    JAMES  MELVILLE 


OF   HALHILL 


MEMOIRS    OF  HIS    OWN    LIFE 


3IEM0IRS  OF 
HIS  OWN  LIFE 


SIR    JAMES  MELVILLE 
of  Halhill 


Ornamented  lyJvfattinTravers 


at ^lAfountVernon  Street.  Boston  ,  Afiotis. 


Made  hi  Great  Britain. 


M 

I 

N 


BIOGRAPHICAL    NOTE 


SIR  JAMES  MELVILLE  (1535-1617)  of  HALHILL,  was  the 

third  son  of  Sir  James  Melville  of  Raith.  At  the  age  of  fourteen 
he  was  appointed  page  to  Mary,  Queen  of  Scots,  in  France.  Three 
years  later  he  entered  the  train  of  the  Constable  of  France,  under 
whom  he  saw  service  against  the  Emperor  and  was  wounded  at 
the  Battle  of  St.  Quentin,  1557.  In  1559  he  was  sent  by  Henry  II. 
of  France  as  secret  agent  to  Scotland,  with  the  purpose  of 
discovering  the  supposed  designs  of  James  Stuart,  Queen  Mary's 
half-brother  (and  later  regent  of  Scotland),  against  the  throne.  He 
returned  to  France  ;  but  after  various  other  missions  he  finally 
came  back  to  Scotland  and  settled  at  the  Court  of  Queen  Mary, 
by  whom  he  was  appointed  Privy  Counsellor  and  Gentleman  of 
the  Bedchamber.  He  was  also  employed  by  the  Queen  as  envoy 
to  the  court  of  Queen  Elizabeth  in  the  matter  of  the  Darnley 
marriage  negotiations.  Thereafter  during  the  troublous  period 
of  the  Rizzio  and  Darnley  murders,  until  after  tlie  Battle  of 
Carberry  Hill,  he  maintained  a  neutral  position  between  the 
Queen  and  the  rebellious  Protestant  nobles,  but  after  Queen 
Aiary's  confinement  he  threw  in  his  lot  with  the  Regent's  party. 
Later,  on  the  personal  accession  to  the  Throne  of  James  VI.,  he 
was  again  appointed  Privy  Counsellor  and  Gentleman  of  the 
Bedchamber,  and  was  knighted.  However,  on  the  succession 
of  James  VI.  to  tlie  English  throne  in  1603  Melville  declined  to 
follow  h'is  Sovereign  to  England  and  retired  to  his  estate  of  Halhill, 
in  Fife,  where  he  remained  until  his  death  on  13th  November, 
1617. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 


The  "  MEMOIRS  OF  HIS  OWN  LIFE "  were  first 
published  in  1683  in  London.  A  second  edition  appeared  in 
1735,  a  third  in  1751,  while  in  1827  the  Memoirs  were  re- 
printed privately  for  the  Bannatyne  Club  from  the  original  MSS. 
The  present  edition  has  been  reprinted  from  that  of  1735,  with, 
however,  many  corrections  and  emendations  suggested  by  the 
1827  edition. 


r  TSOftW 


OF  1 6th  century  politicians  and  diplomats  none  had  such  a 
peculiar  range  of  experience  or  variety  of  acquaintance  as 
Sir  James  Alelville.  He  was  never  a  resident  ambassador, 
like  his  brother  Sir  Robert  in  London,  nor  did  he  merely  serve  one 
court  in  different  countries.  He  had  been  the  agent  of  different 
courts.  And  his  patrons,  too,  had  been  diversified  in  character. 
Jean  de  Montluc,  Bishop  of  Valence,  was  neither  strict  Catholic 
nor  proper  Protestant  ;  though  condemned  for  a  heretic  at  Rome 
he  kept  the  favour  of  Catherine  de  Medicis  and  so  has  been  called 
an  "  amphibious  creature."  Melville  thought  the  Bishop  had 
been  divinely  inspired  to  befriend  him,  but  he  was  not  quite  the 
sort  of  channel  one  would  expect.  Anne,  Duke  of  Montmorency, 
Melville  served  in  his  day  of  opposition  to  the  family  of  Guise  ; 
as  a  soldier  the  Constable  was  a  "  French  Fabius,"  and  as  a 
politician  so  far  the  same,  a  temporiser.  Equal  in  Melville's 
admiration  was  his  next  patron  Frederick,  Elector  Palatine,  the 
most  sympathetic  figure  among  the  German  Protestant  princes, 
but  more  Calvinist  than  Lutheran,  another  amphibian.  It  is 
from  an  official  source  that  we  learn  how  Frederick's  last  com- 
mission to  him  was  to  confer  with  the  rulers  of  France  on  the 
religious  situation  in  that  country.  Other  t>'pes  like  Catherine 
de  Medicis  with  her  "  Italian  tricks,"  Maximilian  the  future 
Emperor,  who  was  particularly  anxious  to  keep  him,  and  Anthony 
de  Bourbon,  King  of  Navarre,  came  within  the  circle  of  Melville's 
special  activities.  In  the  early  summer  of  1559  Sir  Nicholas 
Throckmorton,  the  English  ambassador  in  Paris,  wrote  of  him 
as  "  well  liked  by  the  Constable,"  and  later  on  informed  Cecil 
that  "  Though  he  had  talked  with  many  men  of  divers  nations, 
finds  none  so  trusty  as  James  Melvijle  ...  the  Constable's 
servant,  a  man  of  good  capacity,"  urging  that  an  effort  should  be 
made  to  use  him  in  the  service  of  Queen  Elizabeth.  This  seems 
to  have  been  done,  on  that  Queen's  own  instruction,  while  he  was 
with  the  Elector  Palatine.  It  was  thus  as  a  highly  "  ex- 
perimented "  politician  that  he  tried  to  restrain  Queen  Mary, 
fenced  in  diplomacy  with  Elizabeth,  and  lectured  the  self- 
suflficient  James  VI.  Such  a  man  was  obviously  in  a  unique 
position  to  make  a  contribution  to  the  history  of  his  time. 

The  fate  of  his  Memoirs  was  somewhat  akin  to  that  of 
their  author.  In  the  form  which  follows  they  were  first 
issued  in  London  (1683),  and  within  a  dozen  years  a  French 
translation   appeared    in    Holland,   followed    by    a    reprint   in 

vii 


INTRODUCTION 


France,  another  in  Holland,  and  by  a  new  improved  French 
version  as  late  as  1745.  There  was  no  publication  in  Scotland 
till  1735. 


Melville  does  not  write  as  a  systematic  historian.  He  professes 
merely  to  supply  the  historian  proper  with  "  parentheses  "  on 
matters  in  which  he  himself  was  directly  concerned,  or  which 
came  under  his  own  personal  observation.  The  opening  section 
of  his  book  is  not  on  this  footins;.  When  James  V.  died  Melville 
was  only  seven  years  old.  But  Sir  James  Grange,  the  Treasurer, 
who  has  so  prominent  a  part,  was  his  brother-in-law.  That 
Melville  prefaces  a  lesson  or  moral  need  not  rouse  any  suspicion 
in  the  reader.  He  is  not  tied  to  it,  though  it  certainly  directs  his 
interest  ;  and  it  is  anyhow  neither  subtle  nor  new.  He  had 
started  out  with  what,  quoting  fiom  a  kindred  spirit,  he  calls 
"  the  daft  opinion,"  that  in  his  political  service  he  could  "  stand 
by  honesty  and  virtue,"  and  so  would  inevitably  achieve  prefer- 
ment and  prosperity.  He  secured  neither  to  the  extent  which  he 
thought  jus  ified  ;  but  that  is  a  very  old  story.  As  Renan  has 
said,  "  History  is  the  opposite  of  virtue  rewarded."  Nevertheless 
Melville  kept  to  his  straight  groove,  because  it  was  his  "  duty," 
or,  as  he  puts  it  with  more  psychological  frankness,  because  it  was 
his  "  nature  "  to  do  so.  This  unbending  quality  probably  brought 
him  some  reputation  of  being  perverse  or  unp'easant.  He  would 
be  neither  corrupted  nor  cajoled,  and,  as  Bothwell  said  of  him, 
he  "  had  a  pin  for  every  bore."  A  letter  exists  from  him  to 
Thomas  Randolph,  dated  March,  1572,  in  which  he  already 
adopts  the  tone  of  one  who  has  withdrawn  from  the  political 
world  and  its  "  combersome  occupations,"  and  signs  himself, 
"  Your  crabit  auld  and  constand  affectioned  frend."  A  man  who 
confesses  to  being  "  crabit  "  or  cross-grained  is  rarely  so  in  essence, 
but  one  of  Melville's  disposition  lays  himself  open  to  the  taunt. 

A  result  of  Melville's  outlook  is  that  he  is  concerned  with 
personalities  and  their  interactions,  with  personal  motives  and 
impulses  of  character,  not  so  much  with  massive  general  factors. 
He  was  himself  a  Protestant  and  a  devout  one — he  may  even  be 
called  a  puritan.  The  more  strange,  then,  the  small  part  which 
the  reformed  Kirk  plays  in  his  narrative.  He  has  much  to  say 
about  the  treatment  of  the  Danish  mission  to  James  VI.,  but 
never  a  word  about  prelacy  or  the  conflict  of  spiritual  and  se  ular 
jurisdictions.  Possibly  these  finer  issues  did  not  come  within  his 
scope.  He  was  not  of  enthusiastic  temper  or  absolute  in  any- 
thing except  personal  integrity  ;  but  always  for  clemency  and  a 
generous  accommodation  in  party  oppositions.  He  may  have 
preferred,  as  in  the  case  of  the  Reformation  war  in  Scotland,  to 
leave  the  conflict  of  King  and  clergy  to  those  who  would  write 

viii 


INTRODUCTION 


its  history.  More  probably,  however,  he  is  open  to  Gladstone's 
critical  comment  upon  Alacaulay,  that  he  dealt  with  religious 
matters  from  the  political  point  of  view.  This  is  certainly  the 
tone  of  his  few  allusions  to  the  ecclesiastical  debate.  The 
niinisters  were  dissatisfied,  they  influenced  the  country',  and 
out  of  this  came  «:rouble,  while  the  need  of  the  country  was  peace. 
Therefore  Melville  argued  that,  just  as  the  banished  noblemen 
should  be  restored  to  tl.eir  lands  and  honours,  so  the  ministers 
should  have  their  former  privilege  of  free  Assemblies,  both  policies 
being  conducive  to  "  peace  in  the  countrj-  "  and  "  his  Majesty's 
interest."  This  satisfying  of  the  Church  was  purely  pragmatist, 
making  no  account  of  the  ecclesiastical  principle  at  "take.  It  is 
to  be  feared  that  Melville  was  among  those  whom  another  of  his 
surname  in  1583  called  the  "  Machiavellians  of  the  Court,"  that 
is,  the  men  who  placed  the  interests  of  the  kingdom  before  the 
articles  of  the  Church.  In  truth  there  is  much  of  the  realistic 
Machiavelli  manner  in  his  Memoirs. 

Nor  did  he  find  it  necessary  to  seek  a  clue  in  their  religious 
preferences  to  the  rabbling  politics  of  the  Scottish  nobility. 
They  were  simply  at  the  old  game  of  one  party  forcing  the  occasion 
to  enlarge  their  power  and  so  their  property  and  status,  while  the 
other,  as  the  probable  victims,  defended  what  they  had.  It 
was  not  religion  that  differenced  the  supporters  of  the  exiled 
Queen  Mary  from  those  of  the  boy-King,  not  even,  he  says,  the 
cause  represented  by  either  figure,  but  "  their  own  partialities 
of  ambition,  greediness  and  vengeance."  One  main  reason  for 
all  this  was  tliat  the  Scottish  nobility  was  too  numerous  for  the 
countn.'  ;  yet  James  VI.  kept  adding  to  their  number,  in  which 
Melville  warned  him  that  he  was  "  not  well-advised." 

In  Scotland,  indeed,  as  in  other  countries,  religion  had  become 
so  entangled  with  politics,  in  the  modern  sense,  that  no  clear 
separation  was  possible.  Melville  had  experienced  the  same  com- 
plication elsewhere,  in  France  for  example.  He  had  served  under 
rulers  of  different  shades  of  religious  opinion,  most  of  whom 
were  ready  to  shift  or  adapt  their  convictions  when  a  political  end 
was  to  be  ser\'ed.  It  was  not  unity  of  religion  but  loyalty  to  the 
sovereign  that  was  being  made  the  test  of  citizenship.  The 
monarch  was  becom'ng  hedged  wiih  divinity.  Melville  reminds 
Mary  that  "  Princes  are  called  divine  persons,"  and  quoted  for 
James  VI.  the  passage  from  Plutarch,  that  "  the  Prince  is  God's 
placeholder."  It  is  characteristic,  however,  that  he  makes  the 
relation  a  reason  for  fuller  responsibility  ;  it  is  not  merely  a 
natural  fact  independent  of  the  use  to  which  it  is  put. 

If  Divine  Right  was  to  become  a  highly  congenial  notion 
to  James,  his  mother  had  been  more  set  upon  its  implication 
of  indefeasible  hereditary  right  of  succession  in  hereditary 
monarchies.  On  the  whole,  too,  this  was  the  principle  generally 
favoured  in  England.  The  union  of  the  kingdoms  was  Melville's 
great  political  idea,  an  hereditary  cause,  it  might  be  said,  since 

ix 


INTRODUCTION 


his  father  had  lost  life  and  estates  on  a  charge  of  favouring  English 
interests.  His  English  friend,  Sir  Nicholas  Throckmorton,  in 
Melville's  favourite  figure  of  speech  (very  common  at  the  time), 
"  shot  at  the  same  mark,"  and  Throckmorton's  letter  to  Queen 
Mary,  as  given  in  the  Memoirs,  puts  the  situation  very  clearlv. 
But  it  was  just  these  conditions  which  made  it  inopportune  for 
Elizabeth  and  her  ministers  definitely  to  recognise  the  Scottish 
claim.  There  were  those  in  England  to  whom  Mary  was  already 
their  Queen  de  jure,  because  of  the  circumstances  of  Elizabeth's 
birth  and  religion.  Mary  was  an  uncertain  factor,  and  it  might 
become  hard  for  her  supporters  to  draw  the  line.  Melville  him- 
self shows  how  serious  the  situation  became,  yet  is  strangely 
oblivious  of  the  fact  that  Elizabeth  would  defend  herself  and 
could  not  be  over  nice  in  doing  so.  There  was  a  party,  too,  who 
cast  their  eyes  elsewhere  for  a  successor.  For  these  reasons  the 
policy  of  the  English  court  was  "  suspense,"  no  commitment, 
and  meantime  to  counter  any  action  on  Mary's  part  that  might 
strengthen  her  hands.  Therefore  Melville  could  brand  Elizabeth 
as  a  dissimulator  and  Cecil  as  a  mischief-maker  working  with 
tools  like  his  friends  Thomas  Randolph  and  Henry  Killigrew, 
and  Mr.  Wotton,  whose  character  Melville  could  estimate  from 
an  earlier  experience  of  him  in  France.  With  the  execution  of 
Mary  in  1587  this  phase  passed,  but  the  succession  was  still 
unsettled  and  other  claimants  could  be  discussed.  Melville,  who 
was  far-sighted  in  his  policy,  accordingly  warned  James  VI.  that, 
as  Queen  Mary  had  been  too  insistent  in  pushing  her  claim,  he 
in  turn  was  imperilling  it  by  favouring  reckless  advisers  and  so 
making  "  storms  "  certain.  The  honest  men  in  England  had  not 
approved  the  stratagems  of  William  Cecil,  and  it  was  Melville's 
solemn  judgment  on  two  occasions  that  there  were  as  many 
honest  men  in  that  country  as  in  any  other  of  the  same  size 
in  Europe.  The  days  of  the  "  auld  enemy  of  England  " 
were  over. 


II. 

Melville  composed  his  work  from  "  sundry  parcels  "  of 
"  written  Memorials  "  which  he  had  prepared  from  time  to 
time  in  connection  with  services  upon  which  he  had  been 
employed.  It  was  intended  for  the  edification  of  his  sons,  and 
there  is  no  evidence  that  he  anticipated  publication.  The  con- 
nections are  sometimes  clumsily  made  and  some  matters  of 
chronology  not  precisely  accurate.  Thus  the  State  document, 
which  he  prepared  for  James  VI.  and  inserted  c.  1590,  not  only 
contains  matter  which  he  explains  had  been  drafted  before  that 
date  but  in  its  last  section  deals  with  events  not  earlier  than  the 
year  1596.  Again  D'Elboeuf's  failure  in  1559,  which  is  men- 
tioned in  Montmorency's  commission  to  Melville,  is  of   a  date 


INTRODUCTION 


several  months  later  than  the  commission  in  question.  These  and 
a  few  others  are  clear  lapses,  but  even  scrupulous  modern  historians, 
with  all  their  advantages,  have  occasionally  failed  as  badly,  and  the 
material  value  of  the  work  is  not  of  a  kind  to  be  affected  thereby. 
Melville  has  a  picturesque  manner  of  e.xpression,  occasionally 
flavoured  with  a  sardonic  humour.  He  describes  the  Earl  of 
Morton  at  Lochleven  as  occupying  his  time  in  making  straight 
the  paths  of  his  garden  and  devising  crooked  paths  in  his  mind. 
As  a  candid  friend  he  informed  the  Regent  ]\lurray  that  he  was 
like  an  unskilful  player  at  tennis,  running  ever  after  the  ball  instead 
of  marking  where  it  would  probably  light — that  is,  exerting  himself 
much  to  little  effect.  Murray  was  to  Melville  neither  the  hero 
of  one  set  of  historians  nor  the  base  fellow  of  another,  but  a  com- 
placent personage  who  reflected  and  was  directed  by  the  men 
with  whom  he  was  for  the  time  associated. 

His  eye  for  significant  detail  and  his  orderly  mind  are  shown 
in  the  story  of  his  w-arlike  experiences.  Limited  as  these  were, 
tliey  are  a  graphic  commentary'  on  the  military  methods  of  the 
time.  Picardy  had  been  his  school  of  war,  and  names  on  that 
battlefield  of  the  ages,  once  again  inade  sorrowfully  familiar,  pass 
before  us  in  his  pages,  St.  Quentin,  Dinant  and  La  Fere.  At  the 
last  place  he  ended  his  military  career  in  a  flight,  of  which  he  had 
ss  little  reason  to  be  ashamed  as  Horace  had  in  his  parallel  case. 
His  details  of  the  incident  are  of  the  nature  dear  to  the  writers 
of  historical  romances.  Other  such  details  appear  in  the 
humorous  experiences  on  his  journey  to  Paris  as  a  boy.  Rich, 
too,  in  historic  atmosphere  is  the  episode,  in  O'Dogherty's  dark 
tower,  of  the  Bishop  of  Valence,  the  chief's  daughter  and  the  two 
friars,  when  the  lady  of  no  importance  licked  up  the  price- 
less balm  of  Egypt  and  O'Dogherty's  daughter  would  have  married 
the  lad  of  fourteen  setting  out  to  make  his  fortune.  These  are  not 
"  unconsidered  trifles  "  ;  they  are  the  historic  properties  of  the 
piece.  One  may  observe  further  the  ready  resort  to  poison  as  an 
explanation  of  untoward  happenings  ;  the  "  Italian  posset," 
like  the  coarser  dagger  stroke,  was  a  form  of  political  strategy. 

That  Mslville  is  pictorial  or  dramatic  was  not  for  him  a  matter 
of  literary  contrivance  ;  such  was  his  spontaneous  mode  of  ex- 
pression, arising  from  the  clear  and  concrete  quality  of  his  vision 
of  men  and  events.  But  his  manner  varies.  The  greatness  of 
mind  and  smallness  of  nature  that  made  up  George  Buchanan 
are  defined  on  the  scale  but  with  the  clean  cutting  of  a  cameo. 
In  some  cases  he  is  content  with  a  significant  moment  or  incident. 
Ilis  so  with  the  Earl  of  Bothwell,  whom  we  see  through  Melville's 
eyes  in  his  bearing  and  conversation  at  supper  in  Holyrood  on  the 
eve  of  his  marriage.  It  is  the  most  intimate  presentation  we 
possess  of  that  disastrous  personality.  Of  Mary,  too,  we  are  left 
mainly  with  impressions.  She  is  in  the  first  phase  a  stately, 
reasonable  figure  ;  then  a  distracted,  tearful  victim.  Up  to  the 
time  of  Bothwell's  sudden  ambition  she  had  borne  herself,  in 

xi 


INTRODUCTION 


Melville's  judgment,  honourably  and  discreetly,  "abhorring  all 
vice  and  vicious  persons."  Walking  vs'ith  her  in  conveisation 
through  the  street  of  Stirling  he  had  brought  her  to  a  "  victory 
over  herself "  in  consenting  to  pardon  the  Riccio  murderers. 
He  thought  that,  if  she  had  been  less  summarily  treated,  "  process 
of  time  "  would  have  undone  the  Bothwell  infatuation.  It  is 
worth  noting  that  he  remarks  how  "  the  false  counterfeit  letters 
and  alleged  practices  against  the  State  "  proposed  to  be  devised 
for  James  VI.  had  been  already  "  craftily  and  deceitfully  alledged 
upon  his  mother."  Evidently  he  did  not  believe  in  the  authen- 
ticity of  the  Casket  Letters. 

Queen  Elizabeth  knew  from  her  agents  of  Melville's  career  and 
reputation.  But,  if  she  thought  to  glamour  or  mislead  him  at  the 
time  of  his  missions  on  behalf  of  Mary,  she  did  not  know  the  man. 
The  portions  of  the  Memoirs  dealing  with  these  interviews  are 
extraordinarily  vivid  and  significant.  Public  men  of  the  i6th 
century  had  a  doleful  habit  of  deliberately  seeking  to  relieve  the 
tension  of  serious  business  by  dropping  into  "  merry  purposes." 
The  form  of  Elizabethan  tragedy,  into  which  comic  scenes  are 
thrust,  may  have  risen  out  of  this  convention.  Melville's"  merry 
purpose  "  by  order  resulted  in  the  fencing  between  Elizabeth 
and  himself  as  to  the  respective  beauties  and  accomplishments 
of  the  two  Queens,  which  has  often  been  quoted.  It  was 
Elizabeth's  game  to  foil  and  blurt  this  sage  gentleman  of  twenty- 
nine  ;  on  the  contrary  he  divined  her  thoroughly.  To  Melville, 
also,  we  owe  the  stiiking  picture  of  Elizabeth's  womanly  chagrin 
at  the  birth  of  Mary's  son,  when  the  bitter  reflection  burst  from 
her  that  "  she  was  but  a  barren  stock."  "  Your  spirit  cannot 
endure  a  commander,"  Melville  told  her  when  she  spoke  of 
marriage  ;  as  little  could  she  endure  the  defeat  of  foitune  that 
followed  thereupon. 

The  Memoirs  preserve  for  us  the  extraordinary  incident  at 
a  state  banquet  on  the  occasion  of  the  baptism  of  the  infant 
James,  when  that  "  French  knave  Bastian  "  devised  the  Masque 
of  the  Satyrs  "  with  long  tails."  Certain  of  the  English  gentlemen 
present  at  once  saw  in  this  an  allusion  to  the  old  mediaeval  slander 
about  the  English  having  tails,  and  angrily  blotted  the  spectacle 
from  their  eyes  by  sitting  down  upon  the  bare  floor  behind  the 
table,  when  the  Queen  and  Lord  Bedford,  their  chief,  had  much 
ado  to  appease  their  vyfounded  feelings. 

We  need  not  be  surprised  to  find  the  wise  and  learned  Sir 
James  fully  possessed  of  a  belief  in  witchciaft  and  the  black  arts 
generally.  He  relates  the  influence  of  Scottish  and  Danish 
witches  upon  the  weather  as  gravely  as  if  he  were  discussing  a 
barometric  depression.  This  was  all  in  the  fashion  of  the  age. 
Familiar  spirits,  astrology,  necromancy  and  the  like  were  as- 
sociated with  mathematics  and  the  natural  sciences.  Witchcraft 
could  not  be  purged  even  by  fire  ;  there  were  visions  about  and 
prophecies,   of  which   he   gives   samples  ;    oracles   spoke   from 

xii 


JNTRODUCTION 


strange  shrines,  like  Morton's  mistress.  Melville  thought  pos- 
terity would  hardly  credit  the  satanic  "  tricks  and  tragedies  " 
of  the  time.  Alack  !  superstitions  never  die  ;  they  merely  change 
costume. 

But  the  interest  of  the  Memoirs  cannot  be  divided.  They  are  a 
lively,  personal  view  of  a  lively  and  critical  period  by  one  deeply 
versed  in  court  politics  in  various  countries.  Melville  is  never 
overbearing  or  loud  or  unreasonable  in  judgment  ;  he  is  hot 
upon  nothing  but  the  little  reward  that  falls  to  an  honest  counsellor 
and  the  wisdom  of  a  magnanimous  spirit  in  public  affairs. 


W.  MACK  AY  MACKENZIE. 


THE  AUTHOR   TO  HIS  SON 

Dear  Son, 

SEEING  thou  hast  shewn  thy  self  so  willing  to  satisfy  my 
expectations  of  the  following  and  observing  many  of  my 
former  precepts  during  thy  younger  years,  I  grant  now 
unto  thy  request  the  more  gladly,  to  put  in  writing,  for  thy  better 
memory',  several  passages  which  thou  hast  heard  me  rehearse 
concerning  the  life  I  did  lead  during  my  peregrination  through 
the  most  part  of  Europe,  from  the  age  of  fourteen  years  till  this 
present  hour,  together  with  the  prosperous  success,  and  hard 
accidents  happened  to  me  ;  hoping  that  thou  wilt  be  so  wise  as 
to  help  thy  self  in  time  by  my  faults,  and  not  to  wait  upon  the 
hurtful  experience  of  the  common  so^t,  seeing  no  man  can  shew 
the  right  way  better  than  he  who  hath  oft-times  chanced  upon  by- 
roads ;  assuring  thee,  that,  next  unto  the  special  favour  of  God, 
nothing  stood  me  in  so  much  stead  as  the  early  embracing  of 
unbought  experience,  by  observing  the  stumbling  errors  of  others. 
Neither  did  I  ever  find  any  thing  more  dangerous  than  the  frequent 
slighting  to  notice  any  seen  example,  which  was  always  accom- 
panied with  over  late  repentance. 

The  most  part  of  things  which  I  purpose  to  set  down  presently, 
are  certain  old  written  memorials  which  were  lying  beside  me  in 
sundry  parcels,  treating  of  matters  wherein  I  have  been  employed 
my  self  by  sundry  princes,  or  which  I  have  seen  or  observed  being 
in  their  countries  (as  the  purposes  of  themselves  will  declare)  to 
ser\e  for  an  example  of  life,  and  better  behaviour  to  thee  and  thy 
brother,  concerning  the  service  of  princes,  and  meddling  in  their 
affairs  ;  which  I  could  not  eschew,  for  I  sought  them  not,  but 
they  me.  I  enforced  my  self  to  serve  them  more  carefully, 
diligently  and  faithfully  than  any  of  my  companions,  whereby 
I  won  greatest  favour  with  those  who  were  wise,  grave,  aged  and 
experimented  ;  as  with  the  prince  elector  Palatine,  and  the  old 
duke  of  A'lontmorancy  constable  of  France,  who  had  the  whole 
rule  and  government  of  the  country  under  King  Henry  II.  his 
master  and  mine  ;  who  were  so  constant,  that  their  favour  lasted 
so  long  as  I  remained  in  their  service  ;  not  without  extream  and 
dangerous  envy  of  such  of  my  companions  as  were  naturally 
inclined  to  that  vile  vice,  whom  I  took  great  pains  by  patience, 
presents  and  humility  to  gain  ;  obligmg  them  by  that  carriage  to 
lay  aside  part  of  their  malice.     But  when  it  chanced  me  after  to 

XV 


THE  MEMOIRS  OF 


serve  princes  of  youngei  years  and  of  less  experience,  at  the  first 
by  the  like  diligence,  care  and  fidelity,  I  obtained  their  favour 
above  the  rest  of  their  servants  ;   yet  at  length  they  were  carried 
away  by  the  craft  and  envy  of  such  as  could  subtilly  creep  into 
their  favour,  by  flattery,  and  by  joining  together  in  a  deceitful 
bond  of  fellowship,  every  one  of  them  setting  out  the  other,  as 
meetest  and  ablest  for  the  service  of  their  prince,  to  the  wreck  of 
him  and  his  country  ;   craving  the  prince  to  be  secret,  and  not  to 
communicate  his   secrets   to   any   but   their  society.     Thus   the 
prince's  good  qualities  being  smother'd  with  such  a  company, 
were  commonly  led  after  the  passions  and  particularities  of  those, 
who  shot  only  at  their  own  marks  :    Some  of  them  continually 
possessing  his  ear,  and  debarring  therefrom  all  honest,  true  and 
plain  speakers.     So  that  no  more  hope  could  be  left  of  a  gracious 
government,  nor  place  for  good  inen  to  help  their  prince  and 
country,  wherethrough  fell  out  many  foul,  strange  and  sad  ac- 
cidents, as  may  be  afterwards  seen  and  read  :  princes  misused  and 
abused,    their   country    robbed,    their    best   and    truest   servants 
wrecked,  and  the  wicked  instruments  at  last  perished  with  all 
their  high  and  fine  pretences  ;    others,  ay,  such-like,  succeeding 
in  their  place,  never  one  taking  example  to  become  more  tem- 
perate and  discreet,  because  of  the  destruction  of  those  who  went 
before  them  ;    but  as  highly  and  fiercely  following  their  greedy, 
vain  and  ambitious  pretences,  obtaining  the  like  tragical  reward. 
For  my  part,  albeit  I  had  seen,  and  oft-times  read  of  the  wreck 
and   backward   rewards  of  all   such   true,   faithful   servants   and 
counsellors,  as  were  most  careful  of  the  weal  and  safety  of  their 
prince,  in  resisting  and  gainstanding  the  devices  of  the  wicked 
sort  ;    and  sometimes  minding  the  prince  not  to  suffer  himself 
to  be  led  by  those  who  commit  so  many  wrongs  and  errors  at  their 
appetite,  yet  I  left  not  off  from  what  I  thought  my  duty,  neither 
for  fear  nor  danger,  to  oppose  my  self  continually  to  the  false 
fetches  of  such  minions,  until,  I  must  confess,  rather  following  the 
extremity  than  the  right  midst,  I  lost  my  credit  with  the  prince, 
and  tint  my  reward,  reposing  over-much  trust  upon  their  con- 
stancy  and    my  good   service,  which  hath   been   oft  an  hurtful 
opinion   unto   honest  men.     With   over-late   repentance   I   was 
compelled  to  lament,  as  did  monsieur  de  Boussie  when  he  was 
left  and  misliked  by  his  master,  crying  out,  "  Alas  !    wherefore 
should  men  be  earnest  to  surpass  their  neighbours  in  worthiness 
and  fidelity  ;   seeing  that  princes  who  get  the  fruit  of  our  labours, 
like  not  to  hear  of  plainness,  but  of  pleasant  speeches,  and  are 
easily  altered  without  occasion  upon  the  truest  servants  ?  "     I 
perceive  well  that  to  continue  in  their  favour,  they  should  not  be 
served  with  uprightness,  but  with  wyliness  ;   and  instead  of  using 
free  language  for  their  honour  and  preservation,  their  servants 
should   frame   and   accommodate   themselves   to   their   pleasure 
and  will  ;   which  may  be  easily  done  by  the  dullest  sort  of  men  : 
But  my  daft  opinion  was,  that  I  might  stand  by  honesty  and 

xvi 


SIR  JAMES  MELVILLE 

virtue  ;  which  I  find  now  to  be  but  a  vain  imagination,  and  a 
scholastical  discourse,  unmeet  to  bring  men  to  any  profitable 
preferment  :  And  yet  my  nature  will  not  suffer  me  to  proceed 
by  any  other  means,  I  being  of  the  same  mind  and  nature,  and,  by 
a  just  call  and  command,  first  of  the  Queen  his  Majesty's  mother, 
and  afterward  of  himself,  having  more  matter  and  greater  warrant 
than  many  others,  as  well  to  admonish,  advertise  and  reprove  the 
prince  to  gainstand  all  evil  instruments,  took  the  more  freedom, 
finding  my  self  thereto  in  dut>'  obliged,  against  the  rule  given  by 
Seneca  to  Lucullus,  saying,  "  If  thou  desirest  to  be  agreeable  to 
great  princes,  do  them  many  services,  and  speak  to  them  few 
words."  Plato  was  of  the  same  opinion,  the  favour  of  princes 
being  obtained  with  great  pain  and  travel,  and  retained  with  great 
difficulty  ;  therefore  should  the  wise  courtier  be  careful  of 
offending  them,  either  by  gesture,  word  or  deed  :  For  being  once 
in  disgrace  with  them,  they  may  well  forgive,  but  they  shall  never 
be  so  great  with  them  again,  do  what  they  will.  Sometimes 
a  man  may  discreetly  put  the  prince  in  remembrance  of  his  long 
and  good  service  ;  but  cast  not  up  thy  service,  nor  be  importunate 
in  demanding  rewards  :  Therefore  be  not  so  audacious  as  to  find 
fault  with  thy  prince's  proceedings,  nor  to  give  advice  unrequired, 
or  advertisements  without  good  grounds  of  being  credited  ;  for 
princes  notice  not  any  thing  but  what  is  told  them  by  their 
favourites  and  minions,  who  commonly  seem  to  allow  and  take 
pleasure  of  whatsomever  recreation  they  find  the  prince  inclined 
to  ;  not  as  by  way  of  flattery,  but  as  by  way  of  yielding,  and 
jleaving  their  own  pleasure  to  take  pains  to  please  the  prince  ; 
-they  never  appear  miscontent,  although  he  do  not  reward  them  in 
due  time  ;  they  never  challenge  him  of  breach  of  promise,  in  case 
he  break  it.  In  many  of  these  rules  I  confess  I  have  overshot  my 
self,  for  too  great  servency  towards  the  prince's  senice,  having 
never  minded  my  own  particular  advancement  and  profit  :  For 
otherwise  I  should  have,  at  the  earnest  desire  of  the  house  of 
Guise,  my  old  and  great  acquaintances  while  I  was  residing  at 
the  court  of  France,  tittled  in  the  Queen's  ear,  that  her  rebellious 
subjects,  who  had  at  their  own  hands,  without  her  authority, 
changed  religion,  should  have  been  exemplarily  punished  as 
rebels  and  traitors  That  if  she  condescended  to  acquiesce  to  the 
establishing  the  reformed  religion,  it  would  be  constructed  as 
meanness  of  spirit,  and  that  she  wanted  authority  to  curb  such  a 
mutinous  people  :  That  it  was  below  her,  at  the  arrogant  desire 
of  her  nobility,  and  to  remove  the  idle  jealousies  of  her  other 
subjects,  to  lay  aside  Riccio,  as  being  derogatory  from  her  honour, 
that  she  could  not  have  liberty  to  keep  about  her  what  servants  she 
pleased  :  seeing  hence  there  might  be  ground  to  alledge  there 
were  other  bad  designs  to  follow,  when  in  the  first  place  they 
desired  to  separate  from  her  such  as  they  knew  would  be  most 
trusty  to  her,  and  in  whom  she  could  most  confide.  This  kind 
of  language   would   probably   have   most   suited   her   Majesty's 

B  xvii 


THE  MEMOIRS  OF 


humour,  and  would  have  procured  to  my  self  great  bribes  from 
Riccio  and  his  popish  friends  for  my  reward.     But  I  thought  it 
was  more  the  part  of  a  true  friend  to  her  Majesty,  to  acquaint  her, 
that  seeing  hei  subjects  had  now  embraced  the  protestant  religion, 
lookmg  upon  the  popish  principles  as  damning,  it  was  not  her 
interest  to  do  any  thing  that  could  give  them  any  jealousy  that  she 
intended  to  alter  their  religion  ;   that  as  the  entertaining  of  Riccio 
gave  to  all  such  some  apparent  ground  of  harbouring  such  ap- 
prehensions, he  being  a  known  enemy  to  their  religion  ;    that 
having  so  much  of  her  favour,  he  would  undoubtedly  use  his 
endeavours  to  perswade  her  to  re-establish  that  religion  which 
she  her  self  professed  ;  so  it  gave  just  ground  of  discontent  to  the 
nobility,  who  would  look  upon  any  extraordinary  honour  confer'd 
by  her  Majesty  upon  a  stranger,  as  highly  prejudicial  to  them, 
who  were  as  willing  and  able  to  serve  her  as  he  could  be  ;    and 
reflecting  upon  their  loyalty,  as  if  she  had  more  trust  to  place  in  a 
stranger  than  in  her  own  native  countrymen  and  born  subjects. 
Had  I  not  more  regarded  my  princess  her  interest  than  mine  own, 
I  should  have  accepted  the  large  offers  made  me  by  the  earl  of 
Both  well,  when  he  desired  me  to  subscribe  with  the  rest  of  his 
flatterers  that  paper  wherein  they  declared  it  was  her  Majesty's 
interest  to  marry  the  said  earl  ;   but  I  chose  rather  to  lay  my  self 
open  to  his  hatred  and  revenge,  whereby  I  was  afterward  in  peril 
of  my  life  ;    and  tell  her  Majesty,  that  those  who  had  so  advised 
her,  were  betrayers  of  her  honour  for  their  own  selfish  ends, 
seeing   her   marrying   a   man   commonly  judged   her   husband's 
murderer,  would  leave  a  tash  upon  her  name,  and  give  too  much 
ground  of  jealousy,  that  she  had  consented  to  that  foul  deed.     I 
wanted  not  fair  offers  from  Randolph  and  Killegrew,  residents 
here  from  the  court  of  England,  if  I  would  have  in  so  far  complied 
with  their  designs,  as  not  to  have  divulged  what  I  perceived  to  be 
their  drifts,  which  I  could  not  conceal,  finding  them  so  destructive 
to  the  kingdom.     I  had  the  fair  occasion  of  making  a  large  fortune 
to  my  self,  if  I  would  have  gone  along  with  the  earl  of  Arran,  by 
counselling  the   King's   Majesty  to   follow  his   violent  advices  ; 
but  finding  them  so  far  contrary  to  his  interest,  I  did  think  my 
self  engaged  to  warn  his  Majesty,  that  he  was  a  dangerous  man 
who  gave  him  such  advices  ;    that  if  he  followed  the  same,  he 
would  run  himself  upon  inevitable  precipices  ;   that  his  Majesty's 
hearkning  to  the  duke  of  Lenox  and  him,  the  one  a  papist,  the 
other  a  wicked  and  ungodly  man,  would  breed  jealousies  in  his 
subjects  minds,  which  might  produce  dangerous  effects.     This 
freedom,  and  many  times  the  like,  I  took  ;    which  though  his 
Majesty  accepted  in  good  part,  yet  I  thereby  contracted  my  store 
of  enemies  :    But  it  was  always  my  principle,  rather  to  hazard  my 
self  by  plain  speech  when  it  was  necessary,  than  to  expose  my 
master  to  danger  by  silence  or  base  flattery.     And  though  the 
common  practice,  which  I  mentioned  ere  while,  may  seem  to 
thrive  in  some  courts  for  a  time  ;  yet  under  grave  and  wise  princes, 

xviii 


SIR  JAMES  MELVILLE 


and  at  long-run,  the  honest  maxims  will  prove  most  acceptable 
and  safe  :  Therefore  I  willingly  opened  these  things  to  thee,  that 
thou  niayst  as  well  know  what  is  usually  done,  as  what  ought  to  be. 
There  is  a  certain  discretion  to  be  used,  that  is  free  both  from 
sawciness  and  assentation  ;  and  a  man  may  many  times,  if  he 
skill  it  aright,  give  his  prince  good  counsel,  contrary  to  his  inclina- 
tions, yet  without  incurring  his  displeasure.  This  thou  oughtest 
to  study,  if  ever  thou  be  called  to  publick  affairs  ;  and  though 
thou  mayst  bend  with  the  necessity  of  some  accidents,  and  yield 
to  the  times  in  some  things,  though  not  going  just  so  as  thou 
wouldst  have  matters  to  go  ;  and  humour  the  prince  in  an  ordinary 
business,  to  gain  opportunity  of  doing  greater  good  to  him  and 
thy  countr^^  at  a  more  lucky  season  ;  yet  be  sure  that  thou  never 
engage  in  any  disloyalty,  cruelt>%  or  wickedness,  nor  suffer  any 
thing  to  pass  that  thou  seest  will  tend  to  his  ruin  or  grand  pre- 
judice, without  noticing  it  to  him  in  some  humble  manner  :  And 
though  for  that  time  it  be  disrelishing  or  slighted,  yet  when  he 
sees  the  effects  follow*  that  thou  admonishedst  him  of,  he  will  love 
thee  the  better,  and  rather  hearken  to  honest  advice  for  time 
future  :  And  withal  thou  wilt  obtain  the  favour  and  blessing  of 
Almighty  God,  whom  thou  must  at  all  times  endeavour  faithfully 
and  uprightly  to  serve,  if  ever  thou  expectest  bliss  in  this  or  the 
other  world  ;  to  whose  gracious  Providence  I  commit  thee,  with 
the  hearty  well  wishes  and  benison  of 

Thy  dearly  loving  father, 


JAMES  MELVILLE. 


THE    MEMOni§    OF 
SIR   JAMES  MELVILLE 


KING  HENRY  VIII.  of  England  being  discontent  with  the 
Pope,  for  refusing  to  grant  the  divorce  from  his  wife^ 
Queen  Katharine  of  Castile  ;  for  revenge  he  looked 
through  his  fingers  at  the  preachers  of  the  reformed  religion,, 
who  had  studied  in  Dutchland  under  Martin  Luther,  and  were 
lately  come  to  England.  In  process  of  time  the  hatred  betwixt  the 
King  and  the  Pope  came  to  so  great  a  length,  that  he  proclaimed 
himself  "Head  of  the  kirk  of  England,"  and  discharged  S.  Peter's 
pennies  to  be  paid  from  that  time  forth  ;  with  a  strict  command  to 
all  his  subjects  no  manner  of  way  to  acknowledge  the  Pope.  He 
obtained  the  said  divorce  from  his  own  clergy,  marrying  another  ; 
which  occasioned  to  him  the  hatred  of  the  Pope,  the  Emperor 
and  King  of  Spain,  and  all  their  assistants.  He  again  desiring  to 
strengthen  himself  at  home,  conjecturing  the  probability  of  a 
combination  against  him,  found  it  his  interest  to  entertain  a 
strict  amity  with  James  V.  of  Scotland  his  nephew  :  for  he  was 
determined  to  unite  this  whole  isle  in  one  religion,  and  in  one 
empire,  failing  of  heirsmale  procreate  of  his  own  body  ;  having 
then  but  one  daughter  called  Mary  with  the  divorced  Queen, 
which  daughter  he  declared  to  be  a  bastard.  Upon  which  con- 
sideration ambassadors  are  sent  thither,  inviting  that  King  to 
a  conference  at  York,  whither  Henry  offered  to  come  and  meet 
him  ;  alledging  by  such  an  interview,  matters  might  be  more 
effectually  condescended  upon  conducing  for  the  mutual  interest 


THE  MEMOIRS  OF 


of  both  kingdoms  than  could  be  expected  from  the  endeavours  of 
ambassadors  to  be  employed  in  that  affair. 

King  James  having  seriously  considered  the  overture,  and 
advised  thereabout  with  his  council  ;  upon  their  deliberation  and 
advice,  returns  his  resolution  to  attend  his  uncle,  time  and  place 
appointed.  With  which  answer  the  ambassadors  highly  satisfied, 
return  to  their  master,  who  rejoiced  exceedingly  at  so  happy  a 
success  of  that  matter.  Whereupon  great  preparations  are  made 
at  York,  for  the  entertainment  of  his  nephew  with  the  greater 
solemnity. 

The  clergy  of  Scotland,  sworn  clients  to  the  Pope,  having 
had  several  consultations  hereanent,  were  alarmed  with  this 
proposal,  and  the  account  they  had  of  the  King's  resolution 
to  comply  therewith  ;  through  an  apprehension  that  the  uncle's 
perswasion  might  oblige  the  nephew  to  trace  his  footsteps  in 
overturning  popery  in  Scotland,  as  he  had  done  in  England. 
They  therefore  resolve  to  use  the  utmost  of  their  endeavours 
for  preventing  the  said  intended  interview.  They  addressed 
themselves  to  such  as  were  minions  for  the  time,  who  had  most 
of  his  Majesty's  ear.  These  they  corrupted  with  large  bribes, 
to  disswade  the  King  therefrom.  These  having  joined  with 
such  of  the  clergy  who  were  most  in  favour  with  the  King,  used 
many  perswasions,  telling  him  how  King  James  I.  was  retained 
in  England  ;  of  the  old  league  with  France  ;  that  upon  this 
consideration  it  would  be  prejudicial  to  his  interest  to  keep  that 
meeting,  seeing  the  French  would  not  take  it  well,  neither  the 
Emperor,  who  was  highly  incensed  against  Henry.  They  told 
him  of  the  Pope's  interdicting  him,  and  what  a  great  heresy  was 
lately  risen  up  there,  and  had  infected  not  only  the  greatest  part 
of  the  kingdom,  but  the  King  himself.  And  also  that  many 
of  the  nobility  and  gentry  of  Scotland  were  likewise  favourers 
of  the  said  heresies  ;  and  that  it  was  fit  that  timeously  he  should 
prevent  the  spreading  thereof,  seeing  the  same  would  contribute 
much  for  his  advantage,  while  he  might  enrich  himself  by  their 
estates  ;  the  names  of  whom  they  gave  up  in  a  sheet  of  paper  : 
which  the  King  put  in  his  pocket,  thinking  it  a  very  profitable 
proposition,  and  therefore  with  all  diligence  to  be  executed. 

The  Laird  of  Grange  had  been  lately  made  Treasurer,  and 
was  in  great  favour  with  the  King.  He  had  not  yet  discovered 
himself  to  be  a  favourer  of  the  evangel,  but  the  King  esteemed 
him  true,  and  desirous  to  advance  his  profit,  and  very  secret  ; 
therefore  he  thought  fit  to  make  him  privy  to  this  profitable  over- 
ture. He  shewed  unto  him  the  written  roll  of  the  noblemen 
and  barons  names  who  were  given  up  to  be  burnt  for  heresy, 
telling  him  what  great  advantage  he  would  make  thereby. 
Whereat  the  Laird  of  Grange  began  to  smile,  and  the  King  to 
enquire  whereat  he  did  laugh. 

The  Treasurer  desired  liberty  from  his  Majesty  to  tell  him 
the  truth.     Whereat  the  King  drew  out  his  sword,  saying  merrily 


SIR  JAMES  MELVILLE 


to  him,  "  I  shall  slay  thee  if  thou  speak  against  my  profit."  Then 
he  put  up  his  sword,  commanding  him  to  shew  him  what  reasons 
he  could  alledge  against  the  prelates  proposition. 

The  Treasurer  declared  what  troubles  his  Majesty  had  been 
tossed  in  during  his  minorit\',  for  the  government,  first  between 
the  Queen  his  mother  and  the  Lords,  then  betwixt  divers  factions 
of  the  Lords  :  how  that  he  had  been  couped  from  hand  to  hand, 
sometimes  kept  against  his  will  as  captive,  sometimes  besieged, 
sometimes  brought  to  battle  against  his  will  by  the  Douglasses 
to  fight  against  the  Earl  of  Lenno.K  and  his  best  friends,  who 
were  slain  coming  to  relieve  him  ;  the  prelates  being  partners 
for  their  ambition,  sometimes  with  one  faction,  sometimes  with 
another  :  and  how  that  they  could  never  agree  among  themselves, 
nor  let  his  Majesty  take  rest,  until  the  Duke  of  Albany  was  chosen 
Governor,  and  brought  out  of  France  ;  who  had  enough  to  do 
also  :  for  he  would  have  fain  done  pleasure  to  France,  and  raised 
a  great  many  Scotsmen  to  enter  England,  who  were  making 
wars  in  France.  But  he  got  a  lebuke  when  he  was  at  the  border  : 
for  they  would  march  no  further,  alledging,  That  the  King  was 
but  young,  and  sister's  son  to  King  Henry  :  that  they  saw  no 
reason  to  enter  into  war  with  England,  to  endanger  their  King 
and  country  to  serve  France,  being  the  King  his  father  had  to 
no  purpose  lost  his  life  in  their  quarrel,  having  entered  into 
England  with  an  army  against  his  good -brother,  whereby  the 
■whole  country  was  endangered.  After  that  this  Duke  retired 
himself,  your  Majesty  took  the  Government  in  your  own  hands 
at  the  age  of  thirteen  years.  Yet  they  clapped  again  about  you, 
and  kept  you  two  years  as  captive.  And  now  you  are  but  lately 
come  to  your  liberty  ;  and  your  country  is  not  yet  so  well  settled 
as  were  needful,  albeit  your  Majesty  hath  done  very  much  in 
so  short  space  as  to  settle  the  highland  islands  and  the  borders. 
It  were  a  dangerous  thing,  if  your  nobility  should  get  intelligence 
that  some  greedy  fetches  should  be  put  in  your  head,  under 
pretext  of  heresy,  to  spoil  them  of  their  lives,  lands  and  goods. 
Wherein  you  may  endanger  your  own  estate  at  the  instance  of 
those  whose  estates  are  in  peril,  who  would  hazard  you  and 
yours,  to  save  their  own.  The  prelates  I  mean,  who  fear  that 
your  Majesty,  at  the  example  of  the  King  of  England,  of  Denmark, 
and  several  princes  of  the  empire,  will  make  the  like  reformation 
among  them.  Therefore  they  have  no  will  of  your  familiarity 
with  the  King  of  England,  nor  that  your  estate  should  be  so 
settled  that  your  Majesty  might  put  order  to  the  abuses  of  the 
kirk.  Did  not  one  of  your  predecessors,  called  S.  David,  give 
the  most  part  of  the  patrimony  of  the  crown  to  the  Kirk,  erecting 
the  same  into  bishopricks,  and  rich  abbacies  ?  whereby  your 
Majesty  is  presently  so  poor,  and  the  prelates  so  rich,  so  prodigal, 
so  proud,  that  they  will  suffer  nothing  to  be  done  without  them  ; 
and  are  also  so  sworn  to  the  Pope  of  Rome,  when  they  get  their 
benefices  confirmed,  that  the     ought  not  to  be  credited  in  any 


THE  MEMOIRS  OF 


thing  that  toucheth  the  Pope's  profit  or  preferment.  The 
Venetians,  the  wisest  people  in  Europe,  will  not  suffer  any  prelate, 
albeit  he  be  a  boin  man  of  the  town,  to  abide  or  stand  in  their 
council-house,  when  they  are  at  council,  because  they  know  them 
to  be  so  strictly  sworn  to  the  Pope.  Then  he  declared  the  gross 
abuses  of  the  Roman  kirk,  and  the  ungodly  lives  of  the  Scots 
prelates,  which  the  King  and  the  whole  country  might  see. 
Therefore,  saith  he,  if  your  Majesty  would  be  well  and  be  rich, 
you  may  justly  take  home  again  to  the  profit  of  the  crown  all 
vacant  benefices  by  little  and  little,  as  they  may  fall  by  decease 
of  every  prelate. 

He  told  his  Majesty,  anent  his  promise  to  the  ambassador 
of  England,  there  would  come  great  trouble  and  wars  if  it  were 
not  kept.  For  King  Henry  VHI.  was  a  courageous  prince,  and 
high  conceited  ;  and  appeared  to  have  for  the  time  an  upright 
meaning,  his  occasions  pressing  him  thereto  ;  having  so  great 
turns  in  hand,  and  so  many  enemies,  without  succession  saving 
the  foresaid  daughter  ;  being  corpulent  and  fat,  there  was  small 
hopes  of  his  having  any  heirs  :  that  therefore  it  was  his  interest 
to  be  in  a  good  understanding  with  him,  being  his  eldest  sister's 
son,  nearest  of  blood,  and  ablest  to  maintain  and  unite  the  whole 
isle  of  Britain.  As  for  the  retaining  King  James  I.  in  England, 
that  was  a  far  different  case  :  it  was  not  the  like  time  ;  he  was  not 
the  King's  sister's  son,  nor  his  apparent  heir.  And  what  hard 
success  the  King  his  father  had,  for  making  war  against  the 
King  of  England  his  good-brother,  was  too  manifestly  felt  by 
the  whole  subjects.  And  little  better  to  be  looked  for,  in  case 
a  new  unnecessary  war  be  made,  for  your  Majesty  staying  away 
from  the  intended  meeting  at  York. 

The  King  took  such  delight  in  this  language,  that  he  deter- 
mined to  follow  the  advice  given  therein.  And  at  his  first  meeting 
with  the  prelates,  who  had  then  very  great  rule  in  the  country, 
he  could  not  contain  himself  any  longer,  when  they  came  hoping 
to  see  their  plots  put  in  execution.  After  many  sore  reproofs, 
that  they  should  have  advised  him  to  use  such  cruelty  upon  so 
many  noblemen  and  barons,  to  the  peril  of  his  own  estate  : 
"  Wherefore,"  said  he,  "  gave  my  predecessors  so  many  lands 
'  and  rents  to  the  kirk  ?  Was  it  to  maintain  hawks,  dogs  and 
*'  whores  to  a  number  of  idle  priests  ?  The  King  of  England 
"  burns,  the  King  of  Denmark  beheads  you  ;  I  shall  stick  you 
"  with  this  whingar."  And  therewith  he  drew  out  his  dagger, 
and  they  fled  from  his  presence  in  great  fear.  The  King  resolved 
fully  to  keep  his  promise  with  his  uncle  the  King  of  England, 
thinking  it  both  his  honour  and  advancement  so  to  do. 

The  prelates  of  Scotland,  thinking  themselves  far  out-shot, 
and  thereby  in  a  dangerous  condition,  consulted  together  how 
to  bring  the  King  again  to  their  opinion.  They  resolved  in  the 
first  place  to  offer  to  pay  to  him  yearly  out  of  the  rents  of  the  kirk, 
50000  crowns  to  maintain  hired  soldiers,  besides  the  ordinary 


SIR  JAMES  MELVILLE 

subjects  which  obey  the  proclamation,  in  case  the  King  of  England 
should  make  wars  against  Scotland  because  of  the  King's  not 
keeping  the  appointment  at  York.  They  thought  this  would 
be  an  allurement  to  the  King,  who  liked  well  to  be  rich.  Yet 
they  concluded,  that  unless  the  matter  were  proponed  and 
favourably  interpreted  to  his  Majesty  by  such  as  had  his  ear, 
that  would  not  do  the  business.  They  bestowed  therefore 
largely  of  their  gold  to  his  familiar  servants,  and  further  promised 
unto  Oliver  Sinclair,  that  they  should  cause  him  to  be  advanced 
to  great  honours,  and  to  be  made  lieutenant  of  the  whole  army 
against  England,  in  case  that  King  Henry  would  intend  wars 
against  Scotland  :  which  they  affirmed  he  would  not,  nor  durst 
not,  having  already  so  many  irons  in  the  fire. 

This  was  communicated  by  the  prelates  to  the  minions  at 
court,  and  chearfully  condescended  to  by  them,  who  had  by 
flattery  gained  greatest  favour  ;  and  chiefly  by  drawing  of  fair 
maidens  to  the  King,  and  striving  to  be  the  first  advertisers 
whose  daughter  she  was,  and  how  she  might  be  obtained  ;  and 
likewise  of  mens  wives.  They  waited  a  convenient  time  w'hen 
the  treasurer  should  be  absent,  who  was  a  stout  bold  man  ; 
therefore  they  durst  not  speak  in  his  presence  :  for  he  always 
offered  by  single  combat  and  at  the  point  of  the  sword  to  maintain 
what  he  spoke.  At  this  time  he  was  absent  from  court  ;  for  the 
King  had  given  the  ward  and  marriage  of  Kelly  in  Angus  to 
his  second  son,  and  he  was  gone  there  to  take  possession  thereof. 
In  his  absence  then  this  was  proponed  to  the  King,  and  so  backed 
by  Oliver  Sinclair,  and  such  of  the  clergy  as  had  been  best 
acquainted  with  his  Majesty,  as  he  was  induced  to  give  ear  thereto, 
they  having  added  several  other  perswasions,  at  such  times  as 
they  brought  unto  him  fair  maidens,  and  mens  wives.  Then 
they  took  occasion,  in  the  next  place,  to  shew  his  Majesty  that 
the  Laird  of  Grange  his  Treasurer  was  also  become  a  heretick, 
and  that  he  had  always  a  New  Testament  in  English  in  his  pouch  ; 
and  likewise  that  he  was  become  so  proud  and  puffed  up  by 
his  Majesty's  favour,  that  no  man  might  abide  him  ;  and  that 
he  was  so  extreme  greedy,  that  he  was  unmeet  to  be  Treasurer, 
and  too  bold  to  have  procured  for  his  second  son  the  rich  ward 
and  maniage  of  Kelly,  worth  20000  pound.  The  King  answered, 
"  That  he  esteemed  him  to  be  a  plain    frank    gentleman  ;    that 

he  loved  him  so  well  he  would  give  him  again  the  said  ward  and 
"  marriage  for  a  word  of  his  mouth."  The  Prior  of  Pittenweem 
replied  and  said,  "  Sir,  the  heir  of  Kelly  is  a  lusty  fair  lass,  and 
"  I  da'e  pledge  my  life,  that  if  your  Majesty  will  send  for  her 
*'  presentlv,  that  he  shall  refuse  to  send  her  to  you." 

The  King  affirming  still  the  contrary,  there  was  a  missive 
written.  And  the  prelates  and  their  faction  devised,  that  the 
said  Prior  of  Pittenweem  should  carry  the  letter,  and  bring  over 
the  maiden-heir  of  Kelly  to  the  King.  But  the  Treasurer, 
who  knew  him  to  be  his  deadly  enemy,  refused  to  deliver  her 


THE  MEMOIRS  OF 


to  him  :  alledging  the  said  Prior  to  have  been  all  his  days  a  vile 
whoremaster,  having  deflowered  divers  maidens  :    therefore  he 
thought  him  an   unfit  messenger.     Who  was  so  glad  as  he,  to 
retvirn  with  this  backward  answer  ?     He  and  his  associates  kindled 
up  the  King  in  so  great  choler  against  the  Treasurer,  handling  the 
matter  so  finelv  and  hotly,  that  they  obtained  a  warrant  to  charge 
the  Treasurer' to  ward  within  the  castle  of  Edinburgh  :    which 
they  forgot  not  to  do,  at  his  first  coming  to  court.     He  again 
guessed  that  leesings  would  be  made  against  him,  therefore  used 
great  diligence  to  be  with  the  King  :    and   notwithstanding  of 
their  charge,  past  pertly  in  to  his  Majesty,  who  was  at  his  supper 
in  Edinburgh.     But  the  King  looked  down  upon  him,  and  would 
not  speak  to  him,  nor  know  him.     He  nevertheless  steps  forward, 
and  said,  "  Sir,  what  offence  have  I  done,  who  had  so  much  of 
your  favour  when  I  parted  from  you  with  your  permission  ?  " 
The  King  answered,  "  Why  did  you  refuse  to  send  me  the  maiden 
whom  I  wrote  for,  and  gave  despiteful  language  to  him  I  sent  for 
her  ?  "     "  Sir,"  said  he,  "  there  is  none  about  your  Majesty  dare 
avow  any  such  thing  in  my  face.     As  for  the  maiden.     I  said  to 
the   Prior  of  Pittenweem,'  that   I   was  well   enough  to   be   the 
messenger  myself  to  convey  her  to  your  Majesty  ;    but  thought 
him  unmeet,  whom  I  knew  to  be  a  forcer  of  women,  and  the 
greatest  deflowerer  of  wives  and  maidens   in  Scotland."     The 
King  said,   "  Hast  thou   then   brought   the   gentlewoman   with 
thee  }  "      "  Yes,    Sir,"    said    he.      "  Alas  !  "    saith    the    Kmg, 
"  they  have  set  out  so  many  leesings  against  thee,  that  they  have 
obtained  of  me  a  warrant  to  put  thee  in  ward  ;    but  I  shall  mend 
it    with    a    contrary-    command."     Then    said    the    Treasurer 
lamentingly,  "  Mv  life,  Sir,  or  warding  is  a  small  matter  ;   but  it 
breaks  my'  heart  "that  the  world  should  hear  of  your  Majesty's 
facilitv."     For  he  had  heard,  that  in  his  absence  they  had  caused 
the   King  to  send  to  Eneland,  and  give  over  the  intended  meetmg 
at  York.     Whereat  the  King  of  England  was  so  offended,  in  that 
he  had  been  so  publickly  scorned  and  affronted,  that  he  sent  an 
army  to  Scotland  to  destroy  it  with  fire  and  sword.     Albeit  the 
King  liked  nothing  of  this  war,  he  was  still  kept  in  hope  that  it 
would  tend  to  his  great  honour  and  advantage,  and  that  England 
had  so  much  to  do  as  would  busy  them  elsewhere  ;   so  that  they 
would  soon  repent  them,  and  be  compelled  to  sue  for  peace  ere 
it  was  long.     In  the  mean  time  their  gold  was  made  ready,  the 
more  to  encourage  the  King,  and  large  promises  of  much  more, 
in  case  the  war  continued.  . 

The  King  was  engaged  to  raise  an  army  to  defend  his  country 
and  subjects,  who  went  to  that  war  to  shew  their  obedience,  much 
against  their  hearts.  But  when  they  perceived  Oliver  Sinclair 
raised  up  upon  mens  shoulders,  and  proclaimed  lieutenant  over 
the  whole  army  at  Solway  Sands  ;  the  lords,  in  despite  that  the 
court  and  country  should  be  governed  by  such  mean  men  as  were 
pensioners  to  the  prelates,  refused  to  fight  under  such  a  lieutenant, 

6 


SIR  JAMES  MELVILLE 


but  suffered  themselves  all  to  be  taken  prisoners.  So  the  whole 
army  being  overthrown,  the  King  took  thereat  great  displeasure. 
There  was  great  murmurings  in  the  countr\-,  that  for  pleasuring 
the  prelates  the  kingdom  should  be  thus  endangered.  The 
report  whereof,  and  the  justness  of  the  complaint,  m^ade  the  King 
burst  out  with  some  language  against  them  who  had  given  him 
so  bad  advice.  Which  was  carried  over  soon  to  their  ears  :  and 
they  fearing  the  effects  of  his  displeasure,  caused  him  to  be 
poisoned,  having  learned  that  art  in  Italy,  called  an  Italian 
Posset.  The  Cardinal  David  Beaton  w-as  with  his  IMajesty  in 
the  time  of  his  death,  and  caused  to  be  written  the  form  of  a 
testament  at  his  own  pleasure,  being  dictated  by  himself  ;  which 
upon  that  reason  was  afterward  annulled. 

The  King  of  England  could  not  forget  this  injury  and  displeasure 
done  him  of  the  King's  breaking  of  his  promise.  He  was  much 
troubled  at  his  death.  H's  wars  were  rather  to  have  moved  the 
estates,  of  Scotland  to  know  that  his  favour  and  friendship  had 
been  better  for  them  than  his  feud.  He  was  still  in  hope  to  have 
gained  him  with  consent  and  advice  of  the  best  of  his  subjects 
to  have  joined  in  a  bond  offensive  and  defensive.  For  he  had 
received  information  of  the  King's  worthy  qualities  and  rare 
natural  endowments,  and  entertained  a  marvellous  great  love  and 
liking  of  him  ;  thinking  he  could  not  have  left  the  kingdom  in  a 
better  hand,  than  to  his  own  sister's  son,  nearest  in  blood  unto 
him,  and  meetest  of  any  to  build  up  a  fair  monarchy,  to  be  first 
begun  (in  a  manner)  in  his  own  person  ;  in  respect  that  for  his 
time,  which  he  looked  would  be  but  short,  his  nephew  would 
have  been  but  his  Coadjutor  and  Lieutenant  under  him  ;  and 
after  him  possess  the  whole  under  one  religion,  one  law,  and  one 
head  ;  and  thought  that  thereby  France  should  never  afterward 
have  the  occasion  of  stirring  up  the  one  country  against  the 
other  ;  and  that  the  Pope  should  be  secluded  from  gathering  up 
such  sums  of  silver  from  his  subjects,  for  confirmation  of  benefices, 
or  for  bulls,  or  dispensations  :  for  his  wrath  and  vengeance  against 
the  Pope  was  exceeding  great,  who  had  made  him  many  promises, 
and  had  broken  them  all  ;  fearing,  as  said  is,  to  offend  the 
Emperor,  who  was  so  great  and  mighty  a  Prince.  Therefore  the 
King  of  England  seeing  he  had  now  altogether  lost  the  hopes  of 
the  Scots  alliance  and  concurrence,  he  compelled  the  gentlemen 
of  England  to  exchange  their  lands,  with  the  lands  of  abbeys, 
cloisters,  and  other  temple  lands,  giving  them  more  than  their 
own  ;  that  so  the  said  lands  should  never  return  to  the  kirk, 
without  a  manifest  rebellion,  or  a  dangerous  subversion  of  the 
whole  state  of  the  kingdom.  And  to  be  revenged  upon  the  said 
Cardinal  David  Beaton,  who  he  thought  had  disappointed  him 
of  all  the  hope  he  had  of  Scotland,  he  dealt  with  Sir  George 
Douglas  and  the  Earl  of  Angus,  who  were  but  lately  returned  out 
of  England,  where  they  had  resided  during  the  time  of  their 
banishment,  till  the  death  of  King  James  V. 


THE  MEMOIRS  OF 


These  two  brothers  appearing  to  be  of  the  reformed  religion, 
perswaded  Norman  Lesly  master  of  Rothes,  the  young  Laird  of 
Grange,  and  John  Lesly  of  Parkhill,  who  had  been  persecuted 
by  the  said  Cardinal  for  religion,  after  he  had  taken  their  preacher 
Mr.  George  Wishart,  and  burnt  him  at  St.  Andrew's  :  these,  I 
say,  were  easily  stirred  up  to  slay  him,  whom  they  were  perswaded 
to  be  an  enemy  to  the  true  religion,  to  the  welfare  of  the  country, 
and  to  themselves  in  particular. 

This  proud  Cardinal  was  slain  then  in  his  castle  at  St.  Andrew's  ; 
and  so  ended  all  his  practices,  having  obtained  nothing  but  vain 
travel  for  his  pretences,  and  sudden  death  :  having  been  the 
occasion  of  the  death  of  a  worthy  King,  who  was  inclined  to 
justice,  and  gave  no  credit  to  his  officers  in  their  two  special  points, 
to  reward  and  punish.  For  whoever  did  him  good  service,  he 
would  see  them  rewarded,  yea  albeit  they  chanced  to  be  absent. 
And  as  to  punishing  of  evil-doers,  so  soon  as  he  had  heard  the 
complaint,  he  leaped  upon  his  horse,  and  did  ride  to  the  parties 
himself,  with  a  few  company,  ere  they  could  be  aware  of  him  ; 
and  he  would  see  sharp  execution.  So  that  he  was  deservedly 
both  loved  and  feared.  He  was  very  courageous,  well 
favoured  and  shapen,  of  a  middle  stature,  very  able  of  body. 
But  evil  company  fell  about  him  entring  out  of  childhood  into 
furious  youth,  enticing  him  to  harlotry,  striving  who  should  spy 
out  for  him  the  fairest  maidens,  and  likewise  at  length  mens  wives. 
With  them  he  abused  his  body,  to  the  offence  of  God  and  divers 
good  subjects.  For  which  he  was  not  left  unpunished  :  for  he 
had  but  two  young  sons,  and  tliey  died  both  within  eleven  hours  ; 
so  that  at  his  decease  he  had  but  one  daughter,  called  Mary,  born 
when  he  was  upon  his  death-bed. 

King  Henry  VHL  of  England  having  only  one  son,  called 
Edward,  he  and  the  estates  of  both  countries  desiring  still  this 
whole  isle  of  Britain  to  be  united  in  one  monarchy,  made  a  contract 
of  marriage  between  the  said  two  ;  which  was  afterward  broken 
upon  our  part,  her  Majesty  being  transported  into  France  by  the 
west  seas.  Whereupon  ensued  great  war  between  the  two 
kingdoms  ;  which  was  afterwards  agreed  upon  this  condition. 
That  Edward  should  marry  Elizabeth  eldest  daughter  to  Henry 
n.  of  France,  and  Francis  his  son  should  marry  our  queen. 
My  lord  Hamilton  was  advanced  to  the  government  of  the  country 
by  the  Laird  of  Grange  treasurer,  Mr.  Henry  Balnaves,  and  others 
that  were  of  the  reformed  religion,  when  as  he  appeared  to  be  a 
true  gospeller.  But  he  had  been  afterward  soon  altered  by  the 
Abbot  of  Paisley  his  bastard-brother,  and  became  a  great 
persecutor  of  God's  word,  and  had  been  by  the  perswasions  of 
the  said  Abbot  and  Cardinal  easily  drawn  to  break  the  said  contract 
of  marriage  made  between  King  Edward  and  our  Queen. 

After  that  the  young  Queen  came  to  France,  there  was  great 
disputing  whether  the  marriage  with  the  Dauphin  should  take 
effect  or  not.     For  at  that  time  there  were  two  factions  in  the 

8 


SIR  JAMES  MELVILLE 


French  court  :  first,  the  brethren  to  the  house  of  Guise,  as  the 
Duke  of  Guise  and  the  Cardinal  of  Lorrain,  brothers  to  our  Queen- 
dowager,  and  uncles  to  our  young  Queen  Mary,  pressed  earnestly 
to  set  forward  the  said  marriage  with  France  :  the  old  Constable 
Duke  of  Montmorancy  was  of  opinion,  that  it  was  meetest  to  give 
her  in  marriage  to  some  Duke  or  Prince  in  France,  and  to  send 
them  both  home  to  Scotland  to  keep  that  country  in  good 
obedience  ;  because  when  princes  are  absent,  and  far  from  their 
own,  ruling  their  countries  by  lieutenants,  most  commonly  the 
subjects  of  such  countries  use  to  rebel  :  which  if  Scotland  should 
do,  it  would  be  hard  and  costly  to  get  them  reduced  ;  and  thereby, 
instead  of  making  France  the  better  of  the  marriage  with  the 
Dauphin,  it  might  make  it  to  be  in  a  far  worse  case.  The  house 
of  Guise  again  desiring  to  have  their  sister's  daughter  Queen  of 
France,  to  augment  their  reputation  and  credit,  alledged  it  would 
be  both  honourable  and  profitable  to  the  crown  of  France  to  have 
this  addition  ;  and  that  there  were  revenues  in  abundance  to 
maintain  garrisons  within  the  kin<Tdom,  to  hold  the  subjects  under 
obedience,  building  citadels,  and  having  the  whole  strength  in 
their  hands.  Herein  they  prevailed,  she  being  married  unto  the 
Dauphin. 

John  de  Monluck  Bishop  of  Valence  was  sent  ambassador  from 
France  to  the  Governor  and  Queen-mother,  sister  to  the  Duke  of 
Guise.  And  when  the  said  ambassador  was  to  return  to  France, 
it  pleased  the  Queen-mother  to  send  me  with  him,  to  be  placed 
page  of  honour  to  the  Queen  her  daughter,  I  being  then  fourteen 
years  of  age  But  the  said  Bishop  went  first  to  Ireland  coin- 
manded  thereto  by  the  King  his  master's  letter,  to  know  more 
particularly  the  motions  and  likelihood  of  the  offers  made  by 
Oneel,  Odonell,  Odocart  and  Callock,  willing  to  shake  off  the  yoke 
of  England,  and  become  subject  to  the  King  of  France,  providing 
th;^t  he  would  procure  the  Pope's  gift  of  Ireland,  and  then  send  to 
their  help  2000  Hacbutiers,  200  light  horsemen,  and  four  cannon. 

We  shipped  for  Ireland  in  the  month  of  January,  and  were 
stormsted  by  the  way  in  a  little  isle  called  Sandisle,  before  Kintire, 
where  we  were  compelled  to  tarry  seventeen  days  by  reason  of  the 
storm.  Thence  we  hoised  sail  towards  Ireland  ;  but  the  storm 
was  yet  so  extremely  violent,  that  with  great  danger  of  the  ship 
and  our  lives  we  entered  in  at  the  mouth  of  Lochfeul  in  Ireland 
upon  Shrove-Tuesday,  in  the  year  1549  :  for  the  skipper  and 
mariners  had  lost  all  hopes  of  safety,  having  left  their  pnchors 
behind  them  the  night  before.  Ere  we  landed,  we  sent  one  George 
Paris,  who  had  been  sent  to  Scotland  by  the  great  Oneel  and  his 
associates  ;  who  landed  at  the  house  of  a  gentleman  who  had 
married  Odocart's  daughter,  dwelling  at  the  side  of  a  lake  ;  who 
came  to  our  ship,  and  welcomed  us,  and  convoyed  us  to  his  hou^e, 
where  we  rested  that  night. 

The  next  morning  Odocart  came  there,  and  convoyed  us  to  his 
house,  which  was  a  great  dark  tower,  where  we  had  cold  chear. 


THE  MEMOIRS  OF 


as  herring  and  biscuit  ;  for  it  was  Lent.  There  finding  two 
English  gray  friars  who  had  fled  out  of  England  (for  King  Edward 
VI.  was  yet  alive)  the  said  friars  perceiving  the  Bishop  to  look  very 
kindly  to  Odocart's  daughter,  who  fled  from  him  continually  ; 
they  brought  to  him  a  woman  who  spoke  English,  to  ly  with  him. 
Which  harlot  being  kept  quietly  in  his  chamber,  found  a  little 
glass  within  a  case  standing  in  a  window  ;  for  the  coffers  were  all 
wet  with  the  sea-waves  that  fell  into  the  ship  during  the  storm. 
She  believing  it  had  been  ordained  to  be  eaten,  because  it  had  an 
odoriferous  smell,  therefore  she  licked  it  clean  out  ;  which  put 
the  bishop  into  such  a  rage,  that  he  cried  out  for  impatience, 
discovering  his  harlotry  and  his  choler  in  such  sort  as  the  friars 
fled,  and  the  woman  followed.  But  the  Irishmen  and  his  own 
servants  did  laugh  at  the  matter  ;  for  it  was  a  vial  of  the  most 
precious  balm  that  grew  in  .-T^'gypt.which  Solyman  the  Great  Turk 
had  given  in  a  present  to  the  said  bishop,  after  he  had  been  two 
years  ambassador  for  the  King  of  France  in  Turky,  and  was 
esteemed  worth  2000  crowns. 

In  the  time  that  we  remained  at  Odocart's  house,  his  young 
daughter,  who  fled  from  the  bishop,  came  and  sought  me  where- 
ever  I  was,  and  brought  a  priest  with  her  who  could  speak  English, 
and  offered,  if  I  would  marry  her,  to  go  with  me  where-ever  I 
pleased.  I  gave  her  thanks  ;  but  told  her  that  I  was  but  young, 
and  had  no  estate,  and  was  bound  for  France. 

Now  the  ambassador  met  in  a  secret  part  with  Oneel  and  his 
associates,  and  heard  their  offers  and  overtures.  And  the  patriarch 
of  Ireland  did  meet  him  there,  who  was  a  Scotsman  born,  called 
Wauchop,  and  was  blind  of  both  his  eyes,  and  yet  had  been  divers 
times  at  Rome  by  post.  He  did  great  honour  to  the  ambassador, 
and  convoyed  him  to  see  St.  Patrick's  purgatory,  which  is  like  an 
old  coal-pit  which  had  taken  fire,  by  reason  of  the  smoke  that  came 
out  of  the  hole. 

From  Odocart's  house  we  went  to  a  dwellingplace  of 
the  bishop  of  Roy,  not  far  from  the  narrow  frith  that  runs 
through  Lochfeul  to  the  sea.  The  said  Irish  bishop  had  been 
also  at  Rome.  And  there  we  rested  other  three  weeks,  waiting 
for  a  high-land  bark  which  James  Machonel  should  have  sent 
from  Kintire  with  his  brother  Angus,  to  carry  us  back  to  Dum- 
barton. Which  being  come  for  us,  we  parted  to  a  castle  which 
the  said  Machonel  had  in  Ireland  ;  and  from  that  we  imbarked, 
and  rested  a  night  in  the  isle  of  Jura,  and  the  next  night  in  the  isle 
of  Bute.  But  by  the  way  we  lost  our  rudder,  and  were  in  great 
danger  when  we  came  to  Kintire.  James  Machonel  did  treat  us 
honourably,  and  told  the  bishop  that  he  was  the  welcomer  for 
my  sake,  because  he  had  been  kindly  used  by  my  father  when  he 
was  warded  in  the  castle  of  Dunbar,  during  the  time  that  my 
father  was  captain  thereof  ;  of  whom  we  had  made  an  honourable 
report  to  the  bishop  :  which  occasioned  him  the  more  kindly  to 
notice  me.     After  he  had  caused  us  to  be  landed  at  Dumbarton, 

10 


SIR  JAMES  MELVILLE 


•we  went  straight  to  Stirling  ;  where,  after  eight  days,  the 
ambassador  took  leave  of  the  Queen,  and  went  again  to  Dum- 
barton, where  there  were  two  French  ships,  that  had  brought 
silver  to  Scotland  to  pay  the  French  soldiers  in  service,  there 
ready  to  receive  us.  So  sailing  by  the  Isle  of  Man  along  the  south 
coast  of  Ireland,  we  landed  at  Conquet  in  Britany  eight  days  after 
our  imbarking,  not  without  some  danger  by  the  way,  both  from 
English  ships,  and  a  great  storm  ;  so  that  once  at  midnight  the 
mariners  cried  that  we  were  all  lost.  At  Brest  in  Britany  the 
bishop  took  post  toward  the  court  of  France,  which  was  in  Paris 
for  the  time  :  and  because  I  was  young,  and  he  supposed  I  was 
not  able  to  endure  the  toil  of  riding  post,  he  directed  tvvo  Scottish 
gentlemen,  whose  fathers  he  had  been  acquainted  with  in  Scotland 
to  be  careful  of  me  by  the  way.  And  we  bought  three  little  nags 
to  ride  to  Paris.  He  desired  the  two  brothers  to  let  me  want  for 
nothing  by  the  way  ;  which  he  would  recompence  at  the  next 
meeting.  He  left  with  me  as  much  money  as  would  buy  a  horse, 
and  bear  my  expence  upon  the  road  to  Paris. 

Now  we  three  enquired  after  other  company,  and  found  other 
three  young  men,  the  one  a  French  man,  the  other  a  Britone,  and 
the  third  a  Spaniard,  who  were  to  ride  the  same  way.  We  were 
all  six  lodged  in  one  chamber  at  the  first  inn  we  did  quarter  at, 
in  which  were  three  beds  ;  the  two  Frenchmen  had  one  bed,  the 
two  Scots  another,  the  Spaniard  and  myself  the  third.  I  over- 
heard the  two  Scotsmen  discoursing  together,  that  they  were 
directed  by  the  bishop  to  let  me  want  for  nothing  ;  therefore, 
says  the  one  to  the  other,  we  will  pay  for  his  ordinary  all  the  way, 
and  shall  account  twice  as  much  to  his  master  as  we  disburse, 
when  we  come  to  Paris,  and  so  shall  gain  our  own  expense.  The 
two  Frenchmen,  not  thinking  that  any  of  us  understood  that 
language,  were  saying  to  themselves,  these  strangers  are  all  young 
and  know  not  the  fashion  of  the  hostlaries  ;  therefore  we  shall 
reckon  with  the  host  at  every  repose,  and  shall  cause  the  strangers 
to  pay  more  than  the  custom  is,  and  that  way  shall  save  our  own 
charges  :  and  accordingly  the  next  day  they  went  to  put  it  in 
execution.  But  I  could  not  forbear  laughing  in  my  mind,  having 
understood  so  much  French  as  to  know  what  they  were  aiming  at  ; 
wherewith  I  acquainted  the  young  Spaniard,  and  so  we  were 
upon  our  guard  :  yet  the  two  Scotsmen  would  not  consent  that  I 
should  pay  for  my  self,  hoping  that  way  to  beguile  the  bishop  ; 
but  the  Spaniard  and  I  wrote  up  every  day's  accompt.  By  the 
■way  riding  through  a  wood,  the  two  Frenchmen  lighted  off  their 
horses,  and  drew  out  their  swords,  having  appointed  other  two 
to  meet  them.  But  beholding  our  countenance,  and  seeing  that 
we  were  making  for  our  defence,  they  made  a  sport  of  it,  alledging 
that  they  had  done  it  to  try^  if  we  would  be  afraid,  in  case  we  should 
be  assaulted  by  the  way.  But  these  two  rogues  that  met  us,  left 
us  at  the  next  lodging.  And  when  we  came  to  Paris,  the  two 
Scotsmen  never  obtained  payment  of  the  bishop  for  that  they  had 


II 


THE  MEMOIRS  OF 


disbursed,  because  of  their  intended  fraud.  We  were  thirteen 
days  in  riding  betwixt  Brest  and  Paris,  where  we  arrived  in  the 
month  of  April. 

Within  a  month  after  our  arrival  at  Paris,  the  bishop  of  Valence 
was  sent  to  Rome  :  and  because  he  took  post,  he  left  me  behind 
him,  having  tabled  me  in  a  very  good  ordinary,  and  agreed  with 
masters  to  teach  me  the  French  tongue,  and  to  dance,  fence,  and 
play  upon  the  lute.  I  know  not  why  he  did  not  present  me  to  the 
Queen,  as  he  had  engaged  :  albeit  afterward  he  said  that  he  was 
minded  to  make  me  his  heir. 

The  cause  why  he  was  at  this  time  sent  to  Rome  was  this  : 
Pope  Paul  III.  had  exchanged  some  lands  belonging  to  the  Church, 
for  Parma  and  Placentia,  two  towns  appertaining  formerly  to  the 
dutchy  of  Milan,  and  gave  them  to  his  son  Pierre  Louis  Farnese  ; 
who  married  his  eldest  son  Octavio  to  the  bastard  daughter  of  the 
Emperor  Charles  V.     The  said  Pierre  Louis  being  murdered  for 
his  detestable  vices,  the  next  Pope,  Julius,  pretended  to  bring  again 
the  said  two  towns  to  the  church,  instead  of  the  church-lands  that 
had  been  exchanged  for  them  ;    compelling  the  duke  Octavio 
(finding  himself  unable  to  withstand  the  Pope's  forces)  to  put  the 
said  towns  into  the  King  of  France's  custody  ;   for  he  was  in  as 
great  fear  of  the  Emperor  his  father-in-law,  who  had   gotten 
possession  of  the  dukedom  of  Milan  :   and  for  that  effect  he  sent 
his  brother  the  duke  of  Casters  to  France  ;  to  whom  King  Henry 
of  France  gave  his  bastard  daughter  in  marriage  ;    the  King  of 
France  being  as  earnest  to  have  an  estate  in  Italy,  as  the  Emperor 
was  to  hinder  him  from  it,  by  reason  of  Milan  and  Naples,  to  which 
the  King  claimed   a  right,  though   the  Emperor  had   thern  in 
possession.     Therefore,  so  soon  as  he  did  see  the  French  garrison 
within  the  town  of  Parma,  he  took  part  with  the  Pope.     Which 
made  the  King  of  France  endeavour  to  make  a  peace  with  King 
Edward  VI.  of  England,  by  the  means  of  the  duke  of  Northumber- 
land, who  had  a  strict  friendship  with  France,  having  a  hidden 
mark  of  his  own  that  he  shot  at,  as  his  proceedings  afterwards 
declared.     The  peace  with  England  being  concluded,  that  King 
Edward    should    marry    Elizabeth    eldest    daughter    to    Henry 
11.  of  France  ;  and  that  he  should  give  his  consent  that  the  Queen 
of  Scotland,  who  was  betrothed  to  him,  should  be  married  with 
Francis  Dauphin  of  France,  in  which  peace  Scotland  was  also 
comprehended  ;    the  bishop  of  Valence  was   sent  to  Rome   to 
endeavour  to  oblige  the  Pope  to  desert  the  Emperor.     But  he 
returned  without  obtaining  success  in  his  expedition  :   which  was 
the  cause  that  the  dealing  betwixt  the  King  of  France  and  Onecl 
in  Ireland  ceased.     And  in  the  mean  time  the  King  of  France 
emits  a  proclamation,  forbidding  his  subjects  to  send  to  Rome  for 
any  bulls,  or  confirmation  of  benefices  :   which,  together  with  the 
agreement  with  England,  put  the  Pope  in  great  fea.  that  France 
would  become  protestants  in  despight,  as  Henry  VIII.  had  lately 
done  before.     He  was  the  more  confirmed  in  this  opinion,  because 

12 


SIR  JAMES  MELVILLE 


an  army  was  shortly  after  made  ready  to  pass  into  Germany,  to 
the  aid  of  the  protestant  princes,  where  King  Henry  himself 
did  in  person  lead  50  thousand  men.  For  then  many  of  the 
Germans  were  becoiiie  protestants,  occasioned  at  firat  by  the 
insolent  avarice  of  the  Pope,  and  the  shameless  proceedings  of  his 
selling  of  pardons  ;  and  by  the  zeal  and  boldness  of  Martin  Luther, 
who  being  persecuted,  was  maintained  and  assisted  by  the  good 
duke  Frederick  the  elector  of  Saxony,  the  landgrave  of  Hesse,  and 
other  princes  of  the  empire.  Whereupon  the  Emperor  Charles  V. 
took  occasion,  under  pretext  of  maintaining  the  catholick 
Roman  religion,  to  pretend  to  bring  the  empire  and  all  the 
dominions  thereof  as  patrimony  to  him  and  his  posterity  :  and 
therefore  abandoned  his  son-in-law  the  duke  Octavio  to  the  Pope's 
discretion,  for  to  obtain  the  greater  assistance  from  him  against 
the  Germans.  Which  design  the  Emperor  had  once  brought  near 
to  pass  :  for  after  he  had  vanquished  the  piotestants  in  battle,  and 
taken  prisoner  duke  John  Frederick,  he  passed  through  the  most 
part  of  the  provinces  and  free  towns  of  Dutchland,  and  took  from 
them  their  liberties,  placing  officers  at  his  pleasure,  and  receiving 
from  them  of  gifts  and  ransoms  160000  crowns,  and  500  piece  of 
artillery.  Yet  he  doubted  the  Landgrave  who  was  a  valiant 
prince,  and  chanced  to  be  absent  from  the  said  battle  ;  therefore 
he  dealt  with  duke  Maurice,  godson  to  the  said  landgrave,  to 
persuade  his  god-father  to  come  in,  under  assurance  and  promise  : 
which  the  Emperor  broke,  retaining  the  said  landgrave  captive 
upon  the  subtlety  of  a  syllable. 

This  duke  Maurice  was  cousin  to  the  captive  duke  of  Saxony, 
and  had  obtained  the  electorate  of  Saxony,  which  the  Emperor 
took  from  his  cousin,  and  gave  to  him.  Whereupon  he,  as  a  fine 
courtier,  assisted  the  Emperor,  helping  him  greatly  in  his  victories 
against  his  country  and  friends,  for  his  own  promotion.  But  when 
the  landgrave  called  him  shelm,  pultroon,  traitor,  and  deceiver  of 
him  whose  daughter  he  had  married,  he  made  earnest  suit  to  the 
Emperor  for  the  liberty  of  his  godfather  ;  though  in  vain,  the 
Emperor  alledging  no  promise  to  have  been  broken  to  the  said 
landgrave,  causing  the  letter  of  promise  and  pacification  to  be 
read  in  his  presence  in  the  Dutch  tongue,  wherein  was  a  written 
word  which  admitted  of  two  diverse  interpretations  ;  to  wit,  this 
word  Enig  was  interpreted  by  the  Empe.'-or  perpetual,  and  by  the 
landgrave  and  duke  Maurice  it  was  taken  for  null  or  none.  But 
they  could  not  help  themselves  ;  for  the  landgrave  was  two  years 
so  straitly  kept  by  the  Spaniards,  that  oft  in  the  night  they  held  a 
lighted  candle  to  his  face,  to  be  assured  that  he  was  sleeping,  and 
vexed  him  so  that  through  despight  he  would  spit  in  their  faces, 
crying  out  continually  against  Maurice  :  who  was  not  sleeping, 
but  had  sent  secretly  to  the  King  of  France,  declaring  how  not 
only  his  godfather  and  he  were  so  abused  and  deceived  by  the 
Emperor  ;  but  that  he  had  begun  already  to  rob  the  empire  of  its 
liberties,  to  change  the  state  thereof  to  a  monarchy,  against  the 

C  13 


"THE  MEMOIRS  OF 


oath  and  promise  made  at  the  election  and  his  coronation  ;  and 
that  under  pretext  to  suppress  heresy,  he  was  so  assisted  by  the 
Pope,  that  he  was  Uke  to  prevail  ;  intreating  the  King  not  to 
suffer  them  who  were  his  friends  to  be  so  oppressed,  seeing  it 
was  no  ways  his  interest  that  his  competitor  should  grow  so  great, 
seeing  thereby  he  should  be  the  more  in  a  capacity  to  annoy  him 
at  his  pleasure.  Whereupon  the  said  King  took  occasion  to  levy 
an  army,  and  to  convey  the  same  into  Almaign  ;  and  appearing 
to  seek  their  liberty,  he  possessed  himself  in  his  way  of 
Metz,  Toul  and  Verdun,  three  great  imperial  towns  and 
bishopricks. 

In  the  mean  time  duke  Alautice  lay  at  the  siege  of  Magdeburg 
lieutenant  for  the  Emperor,  giving  not  the  least  ground  of 
suspecting  him  discontent  for  the  landgrave's  retention,  but 
rather  endeavouring  to  make  appear  how  far  he  was  obliged  to 
the  Emperor,  who  had  so  highly  advanced  him  ;  like  a  fine 
courtier,  evidencing  publickly  his  resolutions  of  setting  forward 
his  master's  interest,  and  executing  all  his  commands,  whether 
they  should  be  right  or  wrong. 

Yet  the  duke  of  Alva  alledged  in  secret  counsel  with  the 
Emperor,  that  Maurice  lingred  too  long  at  the  siege  of  the  said 
town  :  and  that  it  was  to  be  suspected,  that  he  was  offended  at  the 
usage  his  godfather  did  meet  with.  But  Granvil  bishop  of  Arras, 
on  the  contrary,  said,  that  such  drunken  Dutch  heads  needed  not 
be  suspected,  especially  seeing  two  of  the  said  duke's  counsellors 
were  pensioners  to  his  sacred  Majesty,  and  advertised  him  con- 
tinua'ly  of  ail  the  duke's  most  secret  deliberations.  Yet  they 
thought  expedient  to  send  for  the  duke,  to  see  if  he  would  presently 
obey,  or  pretend  some  excuse. 

But  duke  Maurice  had  as  much  subtlety  as  any  Spaniard  of  the 
Emperor's  cojncil,  having  had  intelligpnce  that  the  Emperor  had 
bribed  tv/o  of  his  secretaries  ;  vet  he  gave  not  tne  least  ground  to 
conjectuic  that  he  knew  any  thing  thereof,  appearing  to  do  nothing 
without  them,  deliberating  all  his  enterprises  in  their  presence  ; 
whereby  the  Emperor  was  deluded,  so  as  to  expect  no  harm  from 
him.  And  when  the  Duke  was  sent  for,  he  took  post  immediately 
for  *-he  court,  taking  in  his  company  one  of  the  secretaries  whom 
he  knew  to  be  the  Emperor's  pensioner,  whom  he  sent  before  to 
shew  the  Emperor  that  he  was  following  at  leisure,  by  reason  of  a 
pain  he  'nad  taken  in  his  side,  occasioned  with  riding  post. 

But  the  duke  had  secretly  commanded  his  lieutenant  to  bring 
up  the  whole  anny  with  all  diligence,  and  to  march  night  and  day. 
So  that  he  surprised  the  Emperor  ere  he  had  received  the  least 
notice  thereof  :  for  he  was  compelled  to  rise  from  supper,  and 
fly  forth  of  Inspruck  with  torch-light  ;  and  so  clearly  out  of 
Dutchland,  that  he  never  set  foot  within  it  again. 

This  done,  he  sent  to  the  King  of  France,  who  was  with  his 
army  beside  Strasburgh,  giving  him  great  thanks  for  his  pains, 
advertismg  him  of  the  Emperor's  flight,  intreating  him  to  return 


14 


SIR  JAMES  MELVILLE 


home  with  his  army  ;  for  Maurice  was  dissatisfied  that  he  had 
taken  three  of  the  imperial  towns  :  and  in  the  mean  time  he 
hasted  through  the  whole  country',  restoring  the  free  towns  to 
their  former  liberty  and  privileges. 

The  Emperor  again  fearing  to  be  compelled,  set  at  Iibert^'  the 
duke  of  Saxony  and  the  landgrave  of  Hesse.  Finding  him- 
self frustrate  of  his  expectation,  and  understanding  that  duke 
Maurice  had  a  great  grudge  against  the  King  for  taking 
fradulently  the  three  aforesaid  towns  from  the  empire,  he 
dealt  with  Maurice  secretly,  allowing  all  that  he  had  done  : 
and  so  both  being  reconciled,  they  together  laid  siege  to  the 
to\\-n  of  Aletz,  though  in  vain.  Whereby  may  be  observed  how 
dangerous  it  is  in  civil  dissentions,  to  hiring  in  great  companies 
of  strangers  to  support  any  of  the  parties.  It  may  appear 
impertinent  for  me  to  write  thus  much  of  the  affairs  of  Dutch- 
land,  being  myself  but  young  for  the  time,  and  not  present  in 
the  French  army.  But  afterward,  when  I  was  in  Germany,  I 
had  this  account  from  the  good  Elector  Palatine  ;  so  that  none 
could  attain  to  more  certain  information  thereof. 

The  bishop  of  Valence  was  at  this  time  at  Paris.  He  was 
desirous  to  have  some  knowledge  in  the  mathematicks  ,  and  for 
that  effect  he  found  out  a  great  scholar  in  divers  high  sciences, 
called  Cavatius.  This  Cavatius  took  occasion  frequently  in 
conference  to  tell  him  of  two  familiar  spirits  that  were  in  Paris 
waiting  upon  an  old  shepherd,  who  in  his  youth  had  sers-ed  a 
priest,  and  who  at  his  death  left  them  to  him.  The  bishop,  upon 
the  King's  return  from  Germany,  introduced  the  said  Cavatius 
to  the  King  ;  who,  to  verify  what  he  had  said,  offered  to  lose  his 
head  in  case  he  should  not  shew  the  two  spirits  to  his  Majesty, 
or  to  any  he  should  send,  in  the  form  ot  men,  dogs,  or  cats.  But 
the  King  would  not  see  them,  and  caused  the  shepheid  to  be 
burnt,  and  imprisoned  the  said  Cavatius. 

The  bishop  had  another  learned  man  ^o  his  master, 
called  Taggot,  who  had  been  curious  in  sundry  sciences, 
and  knew  by  the  art  of  palmistry,  as  he  said  to  me  himself, 
that  he  should  die  before  he  attained  to  the  age  of  twenty 
eight  years.  Therefore,  said  he,  I  know  the  true  religion  to  be 
exercised  at  Geneva  ;  there  will  I  go,  and  end  my  life  in  God's 
service.  Whither  accordingly  he  went,  and  died  there,  as  I  was 
afterwards  informed. 

At  this  time  the  bishop  of  Valence  being  at  court  in  St.  German's 
he  was  resolved  to  have  presented  me  to  the  Queen.  But  in  the 
interim,  captain  Ninian  Cockburn,  then  one  of  the  Scots  guard, 
had  obtained  liberty  to  visit  his  friends  in  Scotland,  and  was  lately 
returned.  This  man  was  a  busy  meddler,  and  had  been  some- 
times entertained  about  my  father's  house.  He  finding  that  I 
could  speak  French,  told  me  that  he  had  a  matter  of  consequence 
to  impart  to  the  constable  ;  and  intreated  that  I  would  go  along 
with  him  to  be  his  interpreter,  because  he  had  not  the  French 

15 


THE  MEMOIRS  OF 


tongue.  But  he  would  not  acquaint  me  with  the  matter  till  he 
was  in  the  constable's  presence. 

We  attended  till  one  day  after  dinner,  when  he  was  to  give 
audience  to  divers  ambassadors.  He  commanded  us  to  wait  at 
his  chamber  door  till  two  after  noon  ;  which  hour  he  failed  not 
to  keep,  after  he  had  heard  the  ambassadors,  and  made  report  to 
the  King  of  their  demands,  and  advised  him  what  to  answer.  We 
two  were  brought  into  his  cabinet,  where  he  was  alone  with  a 
secretary.  Then  the  captain  began  to  declare,  how  that  in  his 
late  being  in  Scotland,  bishop  John  Hamilton,  whole  guider  of  the 
governor  his  brother,  had  been  dangerously  sick,  so  that  his  speech 
was  lost  without  all  hope  of  recovery  ;  that  the  Queen  dov/ager 
of  Scotland  had  taken  occasion  hereof,  to  prevail  with  the  governor 
so  effectiially,  that  he  had  resigned  the  government  to  her,  she 
being  made  Queen-regent  :  and  willing  me  to  shew  the  same  to 
the  constable.  But  I  required  to  know  what  further  he  had  to  say  ; 
then  he  proceeded  to  shev/,  that  whea  the  bishop  of  St.  Andrew's 
had  recovered  his  speech  and  health  by  the  help  of  Cardanus  an 
Italian  magician,  he  cursed  and  cried  out,  that  the  governor  was  a 
very  beast  for  quitting  the  government  to  her,  seeing  tnere  was 
but  a  skittering  lass  between  him  and  the  crovm.  But  I  blushed 
when  the  captain  pulled  upon  me  to  tell  these  very  words  to  the 
constable.  He  perceived  how  loath  I  was  to  rehearse  it  ;  at  last 
he  pressed  me.  I  told  him  I  did  not  think  it  worthy  to  be  com- 
municated to  his  lordship.  He  asked  my  name,  and  caused  his 
secretary  to  write  it  up,  and  enquire  if  I  was  of  kin  to  the  captain  : 
who  said  in  bad  French,  that  I  was  his  sister's  son.  The  constable 
enquired  of  me,  if  that  was  truth.  I  told  him  I  had  no  relation 
to  him  at  all.  Then  he  desired  to  know  with  whom  I  was  in  that 
country.  I  answered  his  lordship,  tnat  the  bishop  of  Valence  had 
commission  from  the  Queen-regent  of  Scotland,  to  place  me  her 
daughter's  page.  He  desired  to  know  if  I  would  remain  with 
hiin,  in  case  he  procured  the  bishop's  consent.  I  answered,  that 
I  should  think  myself  much  honoured,  by  being  in  the  company 
of  a  person  so  famous  in  Europe  as  he  was  ;  but  that  I  believed 
he  durst  not  dispose  of  me,  in  respect  of  the  promise  he  had  given 
to  the  Queen-regent.  He  ansv/ered,  that  he  could  present  me 
when  he  pleased  to  the  Queen  ,  but  if  I  would  be  satisfied  to  stay 
with  him,  he  would  not  fail  to  advance  me.  I  expressed  myself 
much  obliged  to  his  lordship,  that  he  had  so  far  taken  notice  of  me, 
and  willing,  if  he  procured  the  bishop's  consent. 

The  constable  failed  not,  at  his  first  rencounter  with  the  bishop, 
to  enquire  concerning  me,  and  expressed  his  desire  to  have  me  in 
his  service.  To  which  the  bishop  acquiesced,  and  acquainted  me 
therewith  that  same  night,  that  the  constable  was  the  best  master 
in  France,  and  would  not  fail  to  promote  me.  Whereupon  I 
entered  into  his  service  in  the  year  1553. 

I  grant  these  trifles  are  not  worthy  to  be  here  inserted,  were 
it  not  to  testify  God's  gracious  goodness  to  the  posterity  of  the 

16 


SIR  JAMES  MELVILLE 


faithful.  As  David  obseives  in  liis  Psalms,  "  I  have  been  young, 
and  now  am  old,  yet  I  never  see  the  just  abandoned."  For  it 
was  God  that  moved  the  Queen  regent's  heart  to  take  two  of  my 
brothers  into  her  service,  and  to  send  me  into  France  to  be  placed 
with  her  daughter  our  Queen  ;  who  also  moved  the  bishop  to  be 
so  kind  to  me,  that  if  I  had  been  his  own  son,  he  could  not  have 
had  more  affection  for  me  ;  and  the  same  God  moved  the 
constable's  heart  to  desire  me. 

In  the  year  1553,  in  tie  month  of  May,  the  constable  of  France 
raised  a  great  army  ;  and  being  the  King's  lieutenant,  led  them 
first  to  Amiens  in  Pitardy.  For  when  the  King  of  France  wcs  in 
Dutchland  with  his  army,  as  he  gave  out,  to  help  the  princes  of 
the  empire  ;  Mary  Queen  of  Hungary,  then  a  widow,  sister  to  the 
Emperor,  and  regent  of  Flanders,  entered  with  an  army  into 
Picardy,  and  burnt  the  King's  palace  of  FouL.nbrey,  with  divers 
other  little  towns  and  villages  ;  thinking  thereby  to  divert  the 
King,  that  he  should  have  come  back  to  defend  his  own  bounds. 
Thus  they  entered  into  hot  wars  ;  and  the  King  in  his  return 
besieged  several  towns,  and  took  them. 

Therefore  the  Emperor,  in  the  spring-time  of  that  same  year, 
entered  in  person  with  a  great  army  into  Picardy,  and  won  Tirruan 
and  Hedin,  and  burnt  divers  burghs  and  villages  ;  which  caused 
the  constable  to  go  with  his  army  to  resist  him.  The  two  armies 
being  encamped  seven  leagues  asunder,  the  constable  was  ad- 
vertised by  a  spy,  that  all  the  Emperor's  horsemen  were  to  come 
in  the  night  to  assault  the  French  camp.  Therefore  he,  to  shun 
that  surprise,  marched  all  night  forward  toward  the  enemy  with 
all  hib  forces  horse  and  foot  ;  whereby  he  surprised  those  •who 
thought  to  have  found  him  in  bed,  and  gave  them  the  overthrow. 
Many  were  killed,  and  some  taken  ;  among  the  rest  the  duke  of 
Arescot,  leader  of  those  designed  for  that  enterprise,  was  taken 
prisoner. 

After  this  victory.  King  Henry  W.  came  to  the  camp  himself. 
The  Emperor  retiring  toward  the  town  of  Valencien,  the  King's 
camp  following  always  upon  his  wing,  making  divers  days  journeys 
before  he  came  tc  the  said  Valencien  ;  where  the  Emperor  had 
set  down  his  camp  without  the  town  upon  an  hill,  making  trenches 
round  about  the  same.  Where  the  King  presented  him  battle, 
waiting  in  vain  a  whole  day,  to  see  if  he  might  be  provoked  to 
come  jforth  :  and  for  that  effect  sent  2  number  of  Enfans  pcrdus 
to  his  trenches,  to  bring  on  the  skirmish  ;  where  the  Emperor 
sent  out  some  companies  of  horsemen,  v,ho  were  soon  beat  back 
within  their  foot.  In  the  meantime  the  Emperor  caused  his 
whole  artillery  to  fire  at  our  camp,  though  net  much  to  our 
prejudice.  We  were  advertised  that  the  Emperor  was  determined 
not  to  hazard  battle  ;  for  he  began  to  believe  that  fortune  favoured 
no  more  his  old  age.  Therefore,  when  night  drew  near,  the  King 
retreated  to  St.  Quintine  ;  where  the  constable  fell  deadly  sick, 
being  then  in  his  great  climacterick.     Then  both  the  armies  were 

17 


THE  MEMOIRS  OF 


sent  to  their  winter  garrisons  ;  the  Emperor  went  to  Bruxels,  and 
the  King  to  Paris,  and  the  constable  to  his  palace  at  Chantilly,  to 
recover  his  health. 

During  this  winter  there  was  a  great  convention  between  Calais 
and  Ardres,  where  caidinal  Pool  was  appointed  mediator  by  the 
Pope,   to  agree  the  two  great  princes,   but  without  any  effect. 
Therefore  the  next  spring  the  King  went  first  into  the  field  with 
his  army,  in  the  year  1554,  as  the  Emperor  had  done  the  year 
before  :  at  which  time  I  was  made  his  pensioner,  by  the  constable's 
means.     His   Majesty   besieged   and   took   first  Marienburgh,   a 
gallant  town  and  of  great  strength.     He  took  also  Bouvines,  and 
at  length  Dinan.     But  the  castle  of  Dinan,  situated  upon  a  high 
rock,  was  stoutly  defended  by  a  Spanish  captain  ;   who  at  length 
coming  forth  to  speak  with  the  constable  about  composition,  was 
retained  ;    and  the  men  of  war  came  forth  with  their  bag  and 
baggage.     Few  or  none  of  the  soldiers  who  came  forth  of  Dinan, 
but  were  hurt  either  with  skelves  of  stanes  by  the  force  of  our 
battery,  or  were  burnt  with  the  firebrands  that  they  did  roll  down 
the  steep  hill  whereupon  the  wall  was  built.     And  thrice  they 
repulsed  our  French  footmen  :    eleven  banner-bearers  whereof 
went  up  to  the  breach,  to  wit,  first,  one  with  the  ensign  in  his  hand, 
not  followed  with  his  company  ;  who  was  killed,  and  fell  tumbling 
down  the  hill.     Then  another  soldier,  to  win  the  office,  took  up 
the  ensign,  and  went  up  likewise  to  the  head  of  the  wall  ;  who  was 
also  killed.     Then  the  third,  and  all  the  eleven  one  after  another, 
lost  their  lives,  not  at  all  assisted  by  their  companies  ;   notwith- 
standing  that  the   constable   my   mastei    stood   by,   crying   and 
threatening  in  vain  :    for  which  he  degraded  their  captains,  and 
brake    their    companies.     There    was    a    Scotsman,    brother    to 
Barnbougle,    called    Archibald    Moubray,   who   with    his    drawn 
sword  ran  up  to  the  head  of  the  wall,  and  returned  safe  :   but  he 
got  no  reward,  though  I  used  all  my  endeavours  for  him.     Thus 
many  are  readier  to  punish  faults,  than  to  reward  good  deeds. 

After  this  the  King  entered  far  into  the  low  countries,  burning 
and  carrying  away  great  booties.  But  so  soon  as  the  Emperor 
could  convene  any  forces  together,  our  armjf  began  to  reti  e  home- 
ward. Then  the  Emperor  sent  5000  horsemen,  to  see  if  they 
might  perceive  any  occasion  of  advantage  ;  which  they  frequently 
essayed,  assailing  our  rear-guard  at  the  passing  over  a  little  water. 
At  Vv'hich  time  the  constable  staid  behind  himself  ;  and  turning 
his  face  toward  them,  he  withstood  their  charge  stoutly  with  the 
French  footmen  and  some  light  horsemen,  until  the  whole  army 
had  passed  over  the  said  water,  not  far  from  Cambray.  So  the 
Emperor's  horsemen  followed  no  further  at  that  time,  believing 
that  the  King  was  resolved  to  return  to  France,  and  dismiss  his 
army  for  that  year.  But  the  King  drew  along  the  frontier  toward 
a  place  of  great  strength  called  Renty,  where  he  planted  his  camp, 
and  besieged  the  said  place  ;  which  I  heard  the  constable  promise 
to  deliver  to  the  King  in  eight  days.     Which  promise  was  not 

18 


SIR  JAMES  MELVILLE 


performed,  for  the  Emperor  came  in  person  with  his  army  for 
the  relief  thereof.  Which  army  the  constable  rode  out  to  meet 
with  the  whole  French  horsemen,  leaving  the  foot  at  the  siege  : 
for  he  had  great  intelligence,  and  had  heard  where  the  Emperor 
was  resolved  to  encamp,  marching  along  a  great  height,  which  had 
a  steep  towards  the  part  where  our  camp  lay  ;  but  it  was  easy  to 
ride  up  and  down  at  the  side  thereof  :  where  our  horsemen  did 
ride,  and  the  Emperor  sent  down  some  on  horseback  to  skirmish. 
At  which  tinie  Norman  Lesly  master  of  Rothes  won  great  reputa- 
tion :  for  with  thirty  Scotsmen  he  rode  up  to  the  hill  upon  a  fair 
grey  gelding.  He  had  above  his  coat  of  black  velvet  his  coat  of 
armour,  with  two  broad  white  crosses,  the  one  before,  and  the 
other  behind,  with  sleeves  of  mail,  and  a  red  bonnet  upon  his  head, 
whereby  he  was  known  and  seen  afar  off  by  the  constable,  the 
duke  of  Anguien,  and  the  prince  of  Conde  :  V.'here,  with  his 
thirt^',  he  charged  upon  si.vtv  of  their  horsemen  with  culverincs, 
followed  but  with  seven  of  his  number.  He,  in  our  sight,  struck 
five  of  them  from  their  horses  with  his  spear  before  it  brake  : 
then  he  drew  hi?  sword,  and  ran  in  among  them,  not  valuing  their 
continual  shooting,  to  the  admiration  of  the  beholders.  He  slew 
divers  of  them,  and  at  length,  when  he  saw  a  company  of  spear- 
men coming  down  against  him,  he  G'a^  e  his  horse  the  spurs,  who 
carried  him  to  the  constable,  and  ihere  fell  down  dead  ;  for  he 
had  many  shots  :  and  worthy  Norman  was  also  shot  in  divers 
parts,  whereof  he  died  fifteen  days  after.  He  was  first  carried  to 
the  Kinc's  own  tent,  where  the  duke  of  Anguien  and  prince  of 
Cond^  told  his  Majesty  that  Hector  of  Troy  was  not  more  valiant 
tjian  the  said  Norman  :  wliom  the  said  King  would  see  dressed 
by  his  own  chirurgeons,  and  made  great  moan  for  him.  So  did 
the  constable,  and  al'  the  rest  of  the  princes  :  but  no  man  made 
more  lamentation  than  the  laird  of  Grange,  who  came  to  the  camp 
the  next  day  after,  from  a  quiet  road  whither  he  had  been 
commanded. 

Now  the  Emperor  sat  do-wn  his  camp  two  mJIes  fiom  Renty, 
and  in  an  instant  entrenched  the  whole  camp  round  about,  save 
only  the  face  of  the  steep  hill  that  looked  towards  our  camp. 

All  that  night  there  were  many  upon  the  watches  of  both  armies, 
for  every  nian  looked  for  a  battle  the  next  day  following,  and 
therefore  the  Emperor,  lii;e  an  old  experienced  captain,  seized 
upon  a  MOod  in  the  night-time,  that  lay  upon  a  hillside  between 
the  two  camps  ;  which  was  not  only  a  great  advantage  to  h:m, 
but  compelled  the  most  part  of  our  arrny  to  stand  m  arms  all 
night  ;  whereby  they  were  rendered  the  more  unable  against  the 
next  day,  wanting  the  refreshment  of  rest  ;  and  then  the  place  of 
battle  was  a  plain  valley  that  lay  under  the  said  wood.  The  next 
morning  early,  after  every  man  had  said  their  prayers,  and  taken 
a  little  refreshment,  we  placed  our  army  in  good  order  of  batte 
under  the  said  hill  and  wood.  The  King  himself  that  day  com- 
manded the  battle  ;    but  he  desired  the  constable  to  abide  with 


19 


THE  MEMOIRS  OF 


him,  to  give  counsel  as  occasion  would  fall  out.     The  duke  of 
Guise  led  the  vantsuard,  and  the  marshal  of  St.  Andr*^  the  rear- 
guard.    First,  so  many  of  our  French  foot  as  are  called  Enfans 
perdus  were  led  along  the  hill  and  wood,  beginning  to  skirmish 
with  the  Spaniards  who  were  within  the  wood  ;  who  had  so  gruat 
advantage,  being  covered  with  bushes  and  tree.-,  that  they  com- 
pelled our  foot  to  retire  fearfully.     Which  well-favoured  beginning 
the  Emperor  might  well  perceive  from  the  hih  whereupon  he  was 
encamped  ;    therefore,  like  a  skilful  captain,  he  took  the  occasion 
to  hazard  a  good  part  of  the  vantguard  with  seven  field-pieces, 
who  by  his  direction  came  forward  ;    the  Spaniards  with  theit 
fir^-arms   through   the   wood  ;     rooo   Imce-knights  with   bright 
corslets   along   the   hill-side,   with    long   pikes  ;     the    count    of 
Swaertsenburg  with  all  his  reiters  at  the  hill-foot,  and  the  whole 
light  horsemen  of  the  Emperor's  army  upon  his  right  hand.     At 
which  time  our  foot,  who  were  appointed  to  skirmish  with  the 
Spaniards,  retired  more  and  more  ;    as  also  our  light  horsemen 
in  the  valley  drew  aside,  and  gave  too  great  place  to  the  Emperor's 
vantguard  :  M'hich  when  it  came  where  Monsieur  de  Tavanes  and 
Monsieur  de  Lorge  stood  with  their  companies,  seeing  them  make 
for  defence,  they  marched  more  coldly.     The  duke  of  Guise  in 
the  meantime  said,  that  he  would  ride  back  to  the  battle,  and 
obtain  the  King's  command  before  he  would  charge  upon  the 
enemy.     But  Monsieur  de  Lorge,  who  was  an  old  captain,  alledged 
that  there  was  no  time  to  take  counsel  ;   for  the  enemy,  said  he, 
will  be  as  soon  at  the  King  as  you  :    therefore  it  was  resolved  to 
charge  courageously  upon  the  enemy.     Which  being  done,  and  a 
little  rencounter  made,  the  reiters  shot  off  all  theii  pistols  ;    and 
finding  themselves  not  backed,  nor  followed  with  the  rest  of  the 
Emperor's  army,  as  they  alledged  was  promised  unto  them,  thsy 
gave  b'^.ck  and  fled,  being  pursued  by  our  horse,  who  slew  several 
of  the  Dutch  foot,  and  some  of  the  Spaniards  ;   for  the  wood  was 
their  relief  ;   but  the  horse  all  escaped  within  the  ramparts  of  the 
Emperor's    camp.     Their    f^cH-pieces    were    taken,    and    many 
Spaniards  made  prisoners.     Therefore  we  called  it  a  won  battle, 
and  marched  forward,  possessing  the  ground  where  the  fight  was, 
and  set  down  our  t,amp  the  same  night  hard  beside  the  Emperor's  : 
who  seemed  not  that  he  had  lost  anything,  but  remained  stedfastly 
within  his  trenches.     All  that  night  the  army  for  the  most  part 
was  upon  the  watch,  and  the  nevt  day  the  armies  looked  peaceably 
one  upon  another  :  for  we  would  not  hazard  to  chai-ge  them  within 
their  fort  ;  and  they  staid  for  twelve  thousand  fresh  men  that  were 
coming  to  their  aid.     But  in  the  evening  they  discharged  all  their 
cannon,  which  overthrew  part  of  our  tents  ,    and  we  again  dis- 
charged all  our  cannon  at  them,  and  did  laugh  t^  see  the  bullets 
light  and  lebound  among  them.     Yet  the  same  night,  without 
trumpet  or  beating  cf  drum  w?  raised  our  whole  army,  and  retired 
home   to  ojr  own   town  of  Montreal,   and   left   Renty   unwon, 
alledging  that  we  had  won  a  battle,  which  was  better,  and  that  we 

20 


SIR  JAMES  MELVILLE 


wanted  horse-meat  in  the  beginning  of  winter.  But  the  Emperor 
suffered  u?  patiently  to  pass  away,  not  appearing  to  understand 
that  he  knew  anything  of  our  retreat,  being  content  that  he  had 
preserved  Renty  from  being  taken. 

After  this,  the  Emperor  being  aged,  and  finding  himself  vexed 
with  the  gout  and  gravel,  he  thought  fit  to  leave  the  world  und 
retire  himself  to  a  monastery  of  monk?  in  Spain.  But  first  he 
made  means  with  the  princes  of  the  empire,  to  eiei;t  his  sen  Philip 
to  be  Emperor  ;  which  they  altogether  refused,  thinking  him  too 
mighty,  and  the  more  in  a  capacity  to  subdue  their  liberties,  as 
his  father  had  attemp  ed  to  do  before  ;  but  they  were  content 
to  chuse  his  brother  Ferdinand,  who  was  Kiag  of  Boh-^mia  and 
Archduke  of  Austria  :  which  dominions  lay  nearest  the  Turks. 
The  said  Ferdinand  having  also  some  lands  in  Hungary,  would 
be  compelled  to  defend  his  own  lands,  and  that  way  would  be 
content  with  less  contribution  from  the  estates  of  the  empire. 
He  gave  over  to  his  son  Philip  his  other  kingdoms  and  dominions 
that  he  had  in  Spain,  Italy  and  the  Low  Countries.  And  for  the 
establishing  his  said  son's  estate,  he  drew  on  a  treaty  of  truce  for 
the  space  of  five  years  with  France  :  which  was  agreed  upon,  and 
sworn  between  the  parties.  But  the  said  truce  was  soon  broken 
at  the  persuasion  of" Pope  Paul  IV.  who,  intending  to  bring  back 
again  to  the  church  some  church-lands  that  his  predecessors  had 
disposed  to  their  friends,  as  the  common  custom  of  Popes  is  : 
the  one  Pope  dispones  to  his  bastards  or  nephews  ;  the  next  Pope 
revokes  the  lands,  pretending  the  same  to  be  for  the  good  of  the 
church,  and  gives  them  again  to  his  kindred  and  friends.  But 
those  who  had  the  lands  that  Pope  Paul  IV.  claimed  were  a  great 
clan  in  Italy,  called  Colonois,  who  were  dependers  upon  the  King 
of  Spain  and  were  under  his  protection  ;  and  would  not  grant  to 
give  over  any  of  their  possessions  unto  the  Pope,  neither  for  his 
cursing,  threatening  or  bragging,  but  stood  in  their  own  defence. 
Whereof  the  Pope  impatient,  put  on  by  two  of  his  nephews,  sent 
the  one  of  them  to  France,  called  the  cardinal  Carafl.  The  said 
legate  had  born  before  him  a  hat  upon  the  point  of  a  sword,  both 
hat  and  sword  to  be  presented  to  the  King  of  France  ;  the  sword 
as  an  assured  token  of  victory,  and  the  hat  as  a  token  of  triumph  : 
requiring  the  King  as  eldest  son  of  the  catholick  church  at  Rome, 
to  send  an  army  to  Italy,  to  help  the  Pope's  holiness  to  recover 
again  to  the  kirk  such  lands  as  were  wrongfully  with-holden  from 
the  same,  by  the  said  race  of  the  Colonois  ;  and  to  take  away  all 
scrupulositv  from  the  King's  conscience,  by  reason  of  his  oath 
and  sacrament  at  the  closing  up  of  the  truce  with  the  King  of 
Spain,  he  the  said  cardinal,  as  legate  from  God's  vicar,  having 
pov,-er,  would  give  him  full  absolution,  he  having  power  to  bind 
and  loose  :  alledging  moreover,  that  in  doing  so  dutiful  an  office 
for  the  kirk,  the  king  would  reap  a  great  advantage  to  himself, 
seeing  he  might  thereby  be  put  in  possession  of  the  kingdom  of 
Naples  by  the  forces  of  the  Pope  ;  who  should  join  with  the  Kmg's 

21 


THE  MEMOIRS  OF 


army,  after  he  had  helped  the  kirk  to  recover  her  lands  from  them, 
who  were  maintained  in  the  possession  thereof  by  his  competitor 
the  King  of  Spain. 

The  duke  of  Guise,  and  the  cardinal  of  Lorrain  his  brother, 
embraced  this  proposition  very  earnestly  :  for  the  duke  expected 
to  be  made  Viceroy  of  Naples,  whereby  he  might  the  more  easily 
sometime  make  his  brother  Pope.  But  the  old  constable  my 
master  was  utterly  against  the  breaking  of  the  peace.  Yet  the 
two  ambitious  brothers  prevailed,  persuading  the  King,  that  as  the 
constable's  age  required  rest,  so  the  King,  being  in  the  flower  of 
his  years,  ought  not  to  let  slip  so  fair  an  occasion  to  recover  again 
the  kingdom  of  Naples  to  the  crown  of  France. 

Thus  a  great  army  was  prepared,  and  sent  into  Italy  under  the 
conduct  of  the  duke  of  Guise  ;  and  likewise  the  king's  lieutenant 
in  Picardy  entered  in  upon  the  King  of  Spain's  dominions  with 
fire  and  sword,  so  unexpected  by  those  of  the  Low  Countries, 
that  some  of  the  French  light  horsemen  entered  upon  horseb.^ck 
wnthin  one  of  their  kirks  upon  a  Sunday,  and  snatched  the  chalice 
out  of  the  priest's  hands  when  he  was  mumbling  his  mass. 

The  King  of  Spain  took  this  breach  of  the  peace  heavily  to 
heart  ,  and  both  assisted  the  Colonois  against  the  Pope's  forces 
more  earnestly  than  he  would  have  done,  and  also  prepared  a  sreat 
army  against  the  next  spring  to  invade  the  frontiers  of  Picardy  in 
France. 

In  the  meantime  that  the  duke  of  Guise  with  his  French  army 
was  in  Italy,  the  Pope  took  occasion  hastily  to  compound  with  the 
Colonois  ;  who  finding  themselves  like  to  be  straitned  before  the 
King  of  Spain's  forces  could  be  ready  to  support  them,  gave  the 
Pope  part  of  his  desire,  he  securing  to  them  the  rest. 

But  the  duke  of  Guise  judged  himself  greatly  disgraced  by  the 
Pope's  guile,  and  disappointed  as  to  the  expectations  he  had  of  the 
preferment  to  the  kingdom  of  Naples,  when  he  understood  that 
the  Pope  was  agreed  without  him,  and  that  instead  of  concurring 
and  helping  him  to  conquer  the  kingdom  of  Naples,  according  to 
his  engagement,  he  plainly  refused  ;  pretending  that  the  winter 
w^as  near  at  hand,  and  that  it  was  by  far  more  fitting,  that  all 
Christian  princes  were  agreed  among  themselves  to  make  war 
against  the  Great  Turk.  So  ihat  all  the  favour  the  duke  of  Guise 
had,  by  undertaking  this  journey  into  Italy,  was  to  get  a  kiss  of  the 
Pope's  foot  ;  which  occasioned  great  anger  in  the  King  of  France, 
both  at  the  one  and  the  other.  Then,  for  the  space  of  two  months, 
every  man  at  the  court  of  France  had  liberty  to  speak  ill  of  the 
Pope  ;  who  at  that  instant  agreed  with  the  King  of  Spain  by  the 
mediation  of  that  same  cardinal  CarafF,  who  had  cariied  the  sword 
and  hat  a  little  before  to  the  King  of  France.  Which  cardinal 
was  afterwards  strangled  by  the  next  Pope,  Pius  IV.  for  practising 
to  bring  the  great  Turk  into  Italy  against  the  Christians  ;  which 
he  at  his  death  confessed  he  had,  for  his  own  greatness.  This  I 
understood  afterward,  being  at  Ronne. 

22 


SIR  JAMES  MELVILLE 


Now  to  return  to  the  duke  of  Guise's  army  abandoned  by  the 
Pope  :  he  returned  to  France  with  the  loss  of  the  most  part,  dead 
for  hunger,  and  weakned  b\'  sickness,  and  slain  by  the  Spaniards, 
who  waited  at  their  heels  al!  the  way.  Before  the  duke  of  Guise's 
coming  home  to  France,  the  King  of  Spain  was  entered  upon  the 

frontiers  of  France  with  a  great  army  of thousand  men  : 

whom  to  resist,  the  constable  my  master  was  sent  with  sixteen 
thousand.  The  day  before  he  took  leave  of  the  King  at  Rheims 
in  Champaigne,  riding  to  the  hunting,  there  came  a  man  in  grave 
apparel  fo'lowing  him  on  foot,  crying  for  audience  for  God's  sake. 
Whereupon  the  constable  staid,  willing  him  to  speak.  Who  raid, 
"  The  Lord  says.  Seeing  that  tliou  wilt  not  know  me,  I  shall  like- 
wise not  know  thee  ;  thy  glory  shall  be  laid  in  the  dust."  This 
strange  language  put  the  constable  in  such  a  rage,  that  he  stiuck 
the  poor  man  in  the  face  with  the  horse-rod  which  was  in  his 
hand,  and  threatned  to  cause  him  to  be  hanged.  The  man 
answered,  "  That  he  was  willing  to  surTer  what  punishment  he 
pleased,  seeing  he  had  performed  his  commission."  The  duke 
of  Nevers  perceiving  the  constable  tioubled,  drew  near,  desiring 
to  know  the  cause.  The  constable  told  him  that  such  a  knave  had 
been  preaching  to  him  of  God.  Then  the  dulce  did  also  threaten 
the  poor  man.  But  as  they  did  ride  forward  after  the  king,  I 
staid  behind,  and  asked  the  man  what  had  moved  him  to  use  such 
strange  language  towards  the  constable  ;  he  answered,  "  That 
the  spirit  of  God  gave  him  no  rest  till  he  had  discharged  his  mind 
of  that  commission  given  him  by  God." 

Now  the  Spanish  army  above  mentioned  was  led  by  Emmanuel 
Duke  of  Savoy  along  the  frontiers  of  France,  who  at  last  planted 
his  camp  about  the  town  of  St.  Quintin.  Whither  the  constable 
sent  the  Admiral  of  Chastillon  his  sister's  son,  to  defend  the  same, 
and  lodged  his  camp  at  La  Fer,  five  leagues  from  the  town  of  St. 
Quintin,  which  was  not  sufhciently  furnished  with  men  and 
munition  :  wherefore  he  essayed  the  next  day,  in  vain,  to  put  in 
it  more  companies,  under  the  conduct  of  Monsieur  d'Andelot 
brother  to  the  said  Admiral.  After  the  preparation  of  two  days, 
he  marched  forward  with  his  whole  army  toward  St.  Quintin, 
carrying  with  him  eighteen  cannons,  with  some  boats  that  are 
commonly  in  camps,  to  pass  the  army  over  riveis  and  waters. 
For  there  was  a  little  loch  upon  the  south-west  side  of  the  town, 
in  the  which  the  said  boats  were  set.  And  Monsieur  d'  Andelot 
first  with  300  entred  the  town  that  way  ;  but  so  soon  as  it  was 
perceived,  the  enemy  stopped  the  rest  from  entring. 

But  so  soon  as  the  Duke  of  Savoy  was  coming  with  his  whole 
armv  towards  us,  the  constable  alledging  that  he  had  furnished  St. 
Quintin  sufficiently,  drew  homev/ards  towards  La  Fer  in  good 
order,  intending  to  eschew  battle  if  he  could,  the  other  being  more 
powerful  than  he.  His  intention  was  to  pass  and  besiege  Calais  ; 
but  the  whole  horsemen  of  the  enemy  were  hard  at  us,  against  the 
time  we  had  travelled  four  miles  ;   where  the  constable  stopped 


23 


THE  MEMOIRS  OF 


a  little  time.  At  length  he  said  that  these  horsemen  came  to  stay 
us  till  the  foot  were  advanced.  Therefore  he  thought  best  to  pass 
forward  to  a  narrow  post  betwixt  a  wood  and  a  village,  there  to 
give  them  battle  if  he  could  not  escape  them.  In  the  meantime 
marshal  St.  Andre,  a  great  man  for  that  time,  gave  unhappy 
advice  that  all  the  French  serv^ants  who  were  on  horseback  should 
retire  from  among  the  men  at  arms,  lest  they  should  be  an  impedi- 
ment to  them  who  were  to  fight,  there  being  as  many  servants 
as  were  masters.  They  were  glad  to  get  them  out  of 
the  press,  spurring  their  horse  with  speed  homewards, 
intending  to  stay  upon  some  hill  to  behold  the  combat.  The 
enemy  perceiving  so  great  a  number  of  horsemen  as  they  thought 
flying,  in  the  very  instant  took  occasion  to  charge  upon  our  light- 
horsemen.  Whereupon  the  constable,  being  in  a  valley  between 
two  hills,  marching  toward  the  strait  part,  where  he  intended  to 
stay,  spurred  forward  up  the  little  hill  that  he  might  see  how  to 
resist,  and  put  order  to  the  battle  ;  which  gave  an  hard  appre- 
hension to  others  that  he  was  flying.  But  when  he  turned  on 
the  top  of  the  hill  to  behold  the  onset,  no  man  would  tarry  with 
him  for  any  command.  Though  he  always  cried.  Return,  Return, 
their  heads  were  homewards,  and  their  hearts  also,  as  appeared. 
Then  his  master  of  the  horse  bringing  him  a  Turkey  speedy  horse 
to  run  away  with  the  rest,  he  answered  in  anger,  "  That  it  was 
against  his  profession  and  occupation  to  fly  "  ;  addressing  himself 
fearlesly  against  the  greatest  troop  of  enemies,  saying,  "  Let  all 
true  servants  to  the  King  follow  me  "  :  Though  only  threescore 
gentlemen  accompanied  him,  who  were  all  overthrown  in  an 
instant.  The  constable  desired  to  be  killed  ;  but  the  master  of 
the  horse  cried  continually,  "  It  is  the  constable,  kill  him  not." 
But  before  he  was  known  he  was  shot  through  the  thigh,  and  then 
was  taken  prisoner.  I  being  hurt  by  a  stroke  Upon  the  head,  was 
again  mounted  by  my  servant  upon  a  Scots  gelding,  which  carried 
me  through  the  enemies,  who  were  all  betwixt  me  and  home. 
Two  of  them  struck  at  my  head  with  swords,  because  my  head- 
piece was  strucken  off  in  the  first  rencounter.  These  two  were 
standing  betwixt  us  and  home,  to  catch  prisoners  in  a  narrow 
strait.  But  my  horse  ran  through  them  against  my  wili,  and 
through  the  village,  for  the  field  between  it  and  the  wood  was  full 
of  smoke  of  the  culverins.  There  most  of  our  foot  were  slain. 
The  leaping  over  a  dike  separated  me  from  the  two,  and  so  being 
past  the  said  village  there  was  room  enough  to  escape.  So  I 
came  safe  to  La  Fer,  where  I  did  meet  with  Mr.  Henry  Killegrew 
an  English  Gentleman,  m.y  old  friend,  who  held  my  horse  till  I 
sat  down  in  a  barber's  booth  to  be  dressed  of  the  hurt  in  my  head. 
In  the  meantime  a  proclamation  was  made  that  no  man  should 
remain  within  the  town,  but  the  ordinary  garrison,  because  the 
governor  thereof  looked  for  a  siege. 

By  the  loss  of  this  battle,  the  town  of  St.  Quintin,  and  several 
other  towns  were  lost  :  whereby  the  King  of  France  found  himself 


24 


SIR  JAMES  MELVILLE 


reduced  to  so  great  straits,  that  he  was  compelled  to  accept  of  a 
very  hurtful  peace  at  Cambray  ;  where  I  was  for  the  time  with 
my  master  the  constable,  yet  a  captive. 

With  the  said  constable  was  adjoined  in  commission,  the 
cardinals  of  Lorrain  and  Chastillon,  the  marshal  of  St.  Andre,  the 
bishop  of  Orleans,  and  the  secretary  1'  Aubespine.  For  the  King 
of  Spain  were,  the  duke  of  Alva,  prince  of  Orange,  and  cardinal 
Granvel.  For  Queen  Mary  of  England  were  commissioners, 
William  Bishop  of  Ely,  and  doctor  Wotton.  The  commissioners 
made  peace  betwixt  France,  Spain,  England  and  Scotland.  The 
constable  was  much  for  the  peace  :  the  cardinal  of  Lorrain 
desired  the  continuance  of  the  wars.  For  by  the  peace,  the 
constable  would  get  leave  to  come  home,  to  guide  the  King  and 
court  again,  as  he  had  formerly  done.  By  the  continuance  of  the 
wars,  he  would  remain  still  prisoner,  leaving  the  government  of 
the  King  and  court  of  France  to  the  cardinal  and  the  duke  of 
Guise  his  brother.  Spain,  that  was  victorious,  took  advantage 
of  their  strife  and  emulation.  France  and  England  lost  by 
the  said  peace.  The  King  inclined  most  to  the  constable's 
counsel.  England  appeared  desirous  that  Calais  should 
be  restored,  believing  that  the  King  of  Spain  would  not 
agree  till  they  had  satisfaction  of  their  demands.  Yet  they  were 
frustrate  of  their  expectations.  At  length  perceiving  the  two 
great  Kings  careless  of  their  satisfaction,  they  appeared  content 
with  a  scornful  mean  (albeit  it  was  not)  cast  in  by  the  cardinal 
of  Lorrain,  to  wit,  that  Calais  should  be  restored  to  them  at  the 
end  of  eight  years,  or  else  500,000  crowns.  And  for  payment 
of  the  said  sum,  in  case  the  said  town  was  not  renderd  unto  them 
at  the  end  of  the  time  specified,  that  in  the  meantime  they  should 
have  three  great  men  of  France,  to  be  kept  as  pledges  for  the 
restitution  of  the  said  town.  Now  the  English  commissioners 
knew  that  nothing  of  this  would  be  kept,  nevertheless  they 
appeared  content  finding  themselves  abandoned  by  Spain.  So 
the  peace  being  concluded,  Spain  obtained  all  their  desires  ;  the 
constable  obtained  liberty  ;  the  cardinal  of  Lorrain  could  not 
mend  himself,  no  more  than  the  English  commissioners. 

However  the  said  cardinal  took  this  advantage  of  the  said  peace, 
that  the  first  article  of  the  peace  obliged  all  of  them  to  leave  their 
partialities,  and  join  together  to  suppress  the  great  number  of 
hereticks,  v^^ho  were  so  increased  through  all  their  dominions, 
that  it  was  thought  hard  enough  to  the  Pope,  the  Emperor,  the 
Kings  of  Spain  and  France,  together  with  the  Queen  of  Scotland, 
to  reduce  them  again  to  the  catholic  faith.  The  said  cardinal 
proposed  to  himself  another  advantage,  wherewith  to  recompence 
his  losses  :  for  he  thought  at  the  end  of  eight  years,  when  England 
would  look  either  to  get  Calais  restored  again  to  them,  or  else  the 
sum  above  specified,  he  would  cause  his  sister's  daughter  the 
Queen  of  Scotland,  to  be  proclaimed  righteous  Queen  of  England, 
and  alledge  that  Queen  Elizabeth  was  but  a  bastard.     And  that 

25 


THE  MEMOIRS  OF 


way  he  thought  not  only  Calais  but  all  England  should  appertain 
to  the  Queen  of  Scotland.  As  for  the  pledges,  he  resolved  such 
men  should  be  chosen  that  France  would  make  little  account  of. 

After  the  concluding  of  this  peace,  ambassadors  were  sent  to 
Flanders  and  England.  The  cardinal  of  Lorrain  out  of  France, 
to  take  the  King  of  Spain's  oath,  and  to  swear  for  the  King  of 
France  his  observation  thereof.  The  secretary  Dardois  also  was 
sent  out  of  France,  to  do  the  like  in  the  name  of  the  dauphin  of 
France,  and  the  Queen  of  Scotland  his  spouse,  giving  them  this 
new  stile,  "  In  the  name  of  Francis  and  Mary  King  and  Queen 
of  Scotland,  England,  and  Ireland,  dauphin  and  dauphiness  of 
Viennois."  Whereat  the  duke  d'  Alva  and  cardinal  Granvel 
smiled,  saying,  "  This  will  breed  some  business  ere  it  be  long." 
The  cardinal  of  Lorrain  shortly  after  caused  to  be  renewed  all  the 
Queen  of  Scotland's  silver  vessels,  and  engraved  thereon  the  arms 
of  England.  The  marshal  Montmorancy,  my  master's  eldest  son, 
was  sent  to  England  to  swear  the  peace,  and  to  take  the  Queen  of 
England's  oath.  So  soon  as  Sir  Nicholas  Throgmorton  under- 
stood of  this  new  stile  and  arms,  usurped  by  the  Queen  of  Scotland, 
to  which  he  said  she  had  no  right,  he  being  ambassador  from  the 
Queen  of  England  to  France,  complained  thereof  to  the  King  and 
council  of  France,  though  he  got  but  Dutch  excuses  ;  alledging 
that  in  Dutchland  all  the  princes  brothers,  cousins,  or  childien, 
are  stiled  princes  or  dukes  of  that  same  house.  The  constable 
advised  the  King  to  commission  me  to  swear  the  peace  in 
Scotland.  But  the  cardinal  of  Lorrain  alledged  Monsieur 
Bettancourt  master  of  the  household  to  the  Queen  regent  was 
meeter  ;  because  the  instructions  tended  to  declare  unto  the 
Queen  regent,  how  that  the  first  and  principal  article  of  the  peace, 
was  that  the  Pope,  the  Emperor,  the  Kings  of  Spain  and  France, 
should  join  together  to  reduce  again  the  most  part  of  Europe  to  the 
Roman  catholick  religion,  and  to  pursue  and  punish  with  fire 
and  sword  all  hereticks  who  would  not  condescend  to  the  same  ; 
desiring  the  Queen  regent  to  do  the  same  in  Scotland  ;  and  to 
begin  in  time,  before  the  heresy  should  spread  any  further  ; 
which  was  already  too  far  spread  by  her  gentle  forbearance,  as 
had  been  reported  to  the  King  of  France  ;  praying  her  diligently 
to  take  course  therein  without  fear,  or  respect  of  persons,  seeing 
that  no  country  of  itself  was  able  to  withstand  the  whole  forces 
of  so  many  confederate  catholick  great  princes. 

It  is  above  declared,  that  all  those  prelates  who  had  great  rule 
and  authority  for  the  time,  had  assisted  the  Queen  regent  in 
breaking  the  contract  of  marriage  with  England,  and  transporting 
the  young  Queen  to  France.  But  the  archbishop  of  St.  Andrew's 
began  to  think,  that  in  case  the  young  Queen  died  without 
succession  to  her  body,  the  earl  of  Arran  his  nephew  might  the 
easilier  be  crowned,  the  governor  his  father  being  already  in 
possession,  was  against  the  transporting  the  crown-matrimonial 
to  France.     And  he  having  for  the  time  the  guiding  both  of  the 

26 


SIR  JAMES  MELVILLE 


governor  his  brother,  and  of  the  countn,',  drew  easily  the  most 
part  of  the  clergy  upon  his  side.  Whereupon  the  Queen  dowager 
was  compelled  to  address  herself  to  a  contrary  faction  to  be  the 
more  in  a  capacity  of  compassing  her  design  ;  to  wit,  to  the 
nobility  and  barons,  who  were  become  professors  of  the  reformed 
religion,  conniving  at  their  secret  preaching,  for  further  in- 
gratiating herself  with  them  :  whereby  the  protestants  so 
increased,  that  the  most  part  of  the  country  became  professors 
of  the  reformed  religion.  And  such  as  had  upon  that  account 
been  formerly  banished,  as  upon  account  of  the  slaughter 
of  the  cardinal,  were  called  home  to  fortify  the  faction 
that  most  furthered  her  designs.  In  the  meantime  the  bishop 
of  St.  Andrew's  fel!  sick,  so  that  he  lost  his  speech  and  was  given 
over  for  dead.  The  Queen  dowager  looks  upon  this  as  a  fit 
opportunity-  of  wresting  tlie  government  out  of  the  lord  Hamilton's 
hands,  ha\-ing  the  concurrence  of  the  lords  that  were  protestants, 
and  their  dependents,  who  were  not  a  little  incensed  at  the  said 
governor,  because  he  had  been  so  influenced  by  his  brother,  as 
by  his  counsel  to  endeavour  the  ruin  of  their  religion.  And  the 
ways  they  took  became  effectual,  he  having  been  at  last  induced 
to  resign  the  government  into  the  Queen's  hands,  who  thereupon 
was  declared  regent. 

The  protestants  were  thus  at  this  time  her  best  friends,  and  by 
the  diligent  preaching  of  the  preachers,  they  were  increased  to 
so  great  a  number,  that  she  judged  it  would  prove  a  dangerous  and 
difficult  matter  to  compel  them  to  desert  their  principles.  But 
the  instructions  which  Bettancourt  brought  to  her,  and  to 
Monsieur  d'  Osel  lieutenant  in  Scotland  for  the  King  of  France, 
and  to  all  others  who  had  greatest  credit  about  her  Majesty,  were 
so  strict,  and  mixed  with  some  threatenings,  that  she  determined 
to  follow  them.  She  therefore  issued  out  a  proclamation  a  little 
before  Easter,  commanding  every  man  great  and  small  to  observe 
the  Roman  cathoHck  religion,  to  resort  daily  to  the  mass,  that 
all  should  make  confession  in  the  ear  of  a  priest,  and  receive  the 
sacrament.  By  word  of  mouth  she  acquainted  several  of  the 
protestant  lords,  that  they  behoved  to  desert  their  principles  ; 
she  shewed  to  them  the  commission  that  was  sent  her  out  of 
France,  and  the  danger  that  would  follow  thereupon  if  not 
obeyed . 

When  the  nobility  and  states  of  the  country  perceiving  her  to 
be  in  earnest,  finding  themselves  also  threatened  by  Monsieur 
d'  Osel,  they  left  the  court  :  and  consulting  together  what  was 
meetest  for  them  to  do,  they  sent  unto  her  majesty  the  earl  of 
Argile,  and  lord  James  prior  of  St.  Andrew's,  to  shew  her  majesty 
in  name  and  behalf  of  the  rest,  how  that  they  had  been  permitted 
by  her  majesty  to  keep  their  own  ministers  of  a  long  time,  some- 
times secretly,  and  sometimes  openly.  That  by  her  tolerance, 
their  religion  had  taken  such  root,  and  the  number  of  the 
protestants  so  increased,  that  it  was  a  vain  hope  to  believe  they 

27 


THE  MEMOIRS  OF 


could  be  put  from  their  religion,  seeing  they  were  resolved  as 
soon  to  part  with  their  lives  as  to  recant. 

The  Queen-regent  did  as  much  disrelish  this  kind  of  language 
as  they  had  done  her  proclamation,  so  that  she  began  to  persecute 
and  they  to  stand  to  their  own  defence,  binding  themselves 
together  under  the  name  of  the  congregation.  Therefore  they 
brake  down  images,  kirks  and  cloisters. 

The  Queen-regent  sent  to  France,  advertising  her  daughter 
and  her  husband  of  these  disorders,  requiring  help  and  forces  to 
suppress  this  in  time,  or  else  all  would  be  lost  :  declaring  that  she 
had  ground  of  fear,  that  my  lord  James  prior  of  St.  Andrew's, 
natural  son  to  James  V.  would  under  pretext  of  this  new  religion 
usurp  the  crown  of  Scotland,  and  pluck  it  clean  away  from  the 
queen  her  daughter,  unless  sudden  remedy  were  apphed  thereto. 
Upon  this  advertisement,  some  of  the  council  of  France  advised 
presently  to  raise  a  great  army  for  reducing  of  Scotland  ;  but  the 
constable  counselled  the  King,  whose  pensioner  I  was  for  the 
time,  to  send  me  into  Scotland.  The  King  first  gave  me  his 
commission  by  word  of  mouth  ;  and  then  the  constable  his  chief 
councellor,  directed  me  at  length  in  his  majesty's  presence,  as 
followeth  : 

"  Your  native  Queen  (saith  he)  is  married  here  in  France  unto 
"  the  dauphin,  and  the  King  is  informed  by  the  cardinal  of 
"  Lorrain,  that  a  bastard  son  to  James  V.  called  prior  de  St. 
"  Andre,  pretends  under  colour  of  religion,  to  usurp  the  kingdom 
"  unto  himself.  His  majesty  knows  that  I  was  ever  against  the 
"  said  marriage,  fearing  thereby  to  make  our  eld  friends  our  new 
"  enemies,  as  is  like  to  come  to  pass  this  day  :  but  I  gave  too 
"■  great  place  to  the  house  of  Guise  to  deal  in  the  affairs  of  Scotland, 
"  because  the  Queen-regent  is  their  sister.  But  now  seeing  their 
"  violent  proceedings  are  like  to  occasion  the  loss  of  the  kingdom 
"  of  Scotland,  I  must  needs  meddle  and  put  to  my  helping  hand, 
"  as  having  better  experience  of  the  nature  of  that  nation  than 
"  apparently  they  have.  I  assure  you  that  the  King  is  resolved 
"  to  hazard  his  crown  and  all  that  he  hath,  rather  than  that  your 
"  Queen  be  robbed  of  her  light,  seeing  she  is  now  married  unto 
"  his  son.  And  he  resolves  to  send  an  army  to  Scotland  for  that 
"  effect,  though  he  would  gladly  shun  the  trouble  thereof,  if  it 
"  were  possible.  For  now  after  his  Majesty  hath  had  wars  long 
"  enough  with  his  old  enemies,  and  hath  agreed  with  them  upon 
"  very  rational  considerations,  he  is  loath  to  enter  again  into  a 
"  new  unnecessary  war  with  his  old  friends  ;  seeing  there  is 
"  probable  ground  of  conjecture,  that  it  is  not  their  default,  but 
"  that  the  same  is  occasioned  by  the  harsh  usage  they  meet  with. 
"  I  hear  that  Monsieur  d'  Osel  is  cholerick,  hasty,  and  too 
"  passionate.  Such  are  not  qualified  to  rule  over  remote  and 
"  foreign  countries.  I  have  also  intelligence,  that  the  Queen- 
"  regent  hath  not  kept  all  things  promised  unto  them.  The 
"  king  my  master  is  not  so  rash,  as  readily  to  believe  that  Scotland, 

28 


SIR  JAMES  MELVILLE 


"  who  had  kept  so  long  friendship  with  France,  would  now  so 
"  slightly  break  their  old  band,  and  abandon  their  duty  to  their 
"  lawful  prince.  The  king  is  well  acquainted  with  the  incon- 
"  veniencies  which  may  arise  upon  so  distant  and  beyond-sea 
"  wars.  He  knows  what  charge  it  is  to  furnish  our  ships,  which 
"  perchance  may  be  thrice  victualled  ere  they  make  sail,  by  reason 
"  of  contrary  winds,  and  that  your  seas  are  very  dangerous.  The 
"  marquiss  d'  Elbeuf  was  driven  upon  the  coast  of  Noiway, 
"  when  he  thought  to  have  landed  in  Scotland  ;  so  that  his  voyage 
"  did  no  good,  tho'  his  preparations  for  the  same  were  very 
"  expensive.  Though  our  army  were  well  landed  in  Scotland, 
"  how  oft  might  they  stand  in  need  of  supply,  when  we,  by  reason 
"  of  these  and  several  the  like  difficulties,  will  not  be  able  to  help 
"  them,  whereof  we  have  too  good  experience  when  Monsieur  de 
"  Lorge  was  there. 

"  I  have  brought  you  up  from  a  child  ;  I  understand  that  you- 
"  are  come  of  an  honourable  family  ;  I  have  assured  the  King 
"  that  I  have  had  good  proof  of  your  honesty,  so  that  his  majesty 
"  is  well  minded  toward  you,  at  whose  hand  I  hope  you  shall 
"  deserve  a  good  reward  :  this  is  a  commission  of  a  far  greater 
"  importance  than  that  which  Bettan court  carried  :  for  the  King 
*'  will  stay  or  send  his  army  according  to  your  report.  Give  it 
"  out  that  you  are  only  come  home  to  visit  your  friends.  Let 
"  neither  the  Queen-regent  nor  d'  Osel  know  of  your  commission 
"  wherein  you  are  employed  by  the  King,  who  is  now  your  best 
"  master. 

"  First,  try  diligently  and  perfectly  well,  whether  the  said  prior 
"  pretends  to  usurp  the  crown  of  Scotland  to  hiniself,  or  if  he  be 
"  moved  to  take  arms  only  for  conscience  sake,  in  defence  of  his 
"  religion,  himself,  his  dependents  and  associates.  Next,  try 
"  what  promises  are  broken  to  him  and  them  ;  by  whom,  and  at 
"  whose  instance.  Thirdly,  if  they  desire  another  lieutenant 
"  in  place  of  d'  Osel. 

"  If  it  be  only  religion  that  moves  them,  we  must  commit 
"  Scotsmens  souls  unto  God  ;  for  we  have  difficulty  enough  to 
"  rule  the  consciences  of  Frenchmen.  It  is  the  obedience  due 
**  unto  their  lawful  Queen  with  the  body  that  the  King  desires. 
"  If  any  promise  be  made  to  them,  and  not  kept,  the  King  nor  I 
'  are  not  to  be  blamed.  If  they  desire  any  other  lieutenant  in 
"  place  of  d'Osel,  the  King  will  send  one,  who  I  hope  shall  please 
"them." 

After  that  the  constable  had  ended  his  instructions,  the  King 
laid  his  hand  upon  my  shoulder,  and  said.  Do  as  my  cousin  hath 
directed  you,  and  I  shall  reward  you.  So  I  kissed  his  Majesty's 
hand  ;  and  taking  my  lea^'e,  I  went  through  England,  and  '^ound 
the  Queen-regent  within  the  old  tower  of  Faulkland  ;  because 
that  same  day  her  army  under  duke  Hamilton  and  Monsieur 
d'  Osel  was  ranged  in  battle  upon  Cowper  Muir,  against  the  lords 
of  the  congregation  :    at  what  time  her  Majesty  made  a  hard 

D  29 


THE  MEMOIRS  OF 


complaint  i;nto  me  of  her  disobedient  subjects.  And  even  as  I 
was  speaking  with  her,  tae  duke  and  Monsieur  d'  Osel  returned 
from  the  said  Muir  without  battle.  Whereat  the  Queen  was 
much  offended,  thinking  they  had  lost  a  very  fair  occasion. 

I  laid  myself  wholly  out  to  be  informed,  if  my  lord  James 
intended,  as  was  reported  of  him,  to  make  himself  King.  Mr. 
Henry  Balnaves  was  then  in  great  credit  with  him,  and  loved  me 
as  I  had  been  his  own  son,  by  reason  of  some  acquaintance  I  had 
with  him  in  France,  and  small  services  I  had  done  him  there, 
during  his  banishment.  He  first  acquainted  me  fully,  so  far  as 
he  knew,  of  my  lord  James's  intention,  and  encouraged  me  to  be 
plain  with  the  said  lord  James,  assuring  me  of  secresy  and  honest 
and  plain  dealing.  He  was  a  godly,  learned,  wise  and  long 
experimented  counsellor.  He  went  with  me  to  the  said  lord 
Prior,  having  shewn  him  my  commission,  which  was  verv  ac- 
ceptable to  him  ;  he  delayed  not  to  advise  with  any  other  of  his 
counsel,  what  answer  he  should  give  me  ;  but  instantly  and 
plainly  told  me  his  mind,  in  presence  of  the  said  Mr.  Henry. 
First,  he  declared  what  acceptable  service  he  and  his  associates 
had  done  to  the  Queen-regent,  chiefly  of  late,  when  the  bishop 
of  St.  Andrew's  had  drawn  the  most  part  of  the  clergy  against  the 
transporting  the  crown-matrimonial  to  France  ;  albeit  he  had 
been  mainly  instrumental  of  sending  the  Queen  thither,  and  in 
persuading  the  governour  his  brother  to  break  the  contract  of 
marriage  with  Edward  of  England.  He  told  what  liberty  of 
conscience  her  Majesty  had  granted  unto  them,  until  the  time  that 
the  master  of  her  household  Monsieur  Bettancourt  returned  from 
France  with  the  news  of  the  peace  ;  and  that,  though  since  that 
time  she  had  changed  her  behaviour  and  countenance  toward  him 
and  those  who  had  done  her  best  service,  he  knew  well  enough 
that  it  proceeded  not  from  her  own  nature,  but  was  occasioned  by 
the  persuasions  and  threatnings  of  her  brother  and  friends  in 
France.  And  further  he  rehearsed  unto  me  all  her  and  their 
former  proceedings,  whereof  mention  is  made  already,  affirming 
still  his  good-will  to  her  Majesty's  service.  And  he  further 
declared,  that  the  more  effectually  to  remove  all  suspicions  from 
his  sovereign  and  her  husband  of  his  designed  usurpation,  he  was 
content  to  banish  himself  perpetually  ou*  of  Scotland,  if  it  would 
please  the  Queen  and  the  King  of  France  to  grant  him  and  his 
associates  such  liberty  as  the  Queen-regent  had  permitted  them 
till  the  home-coming  of  Bettancourt  ;  providing  that  his  rents 
might  come  to  him  to  France,  or  any  other  country  where  he 
should  reside  :  and  for  security  hereof,  he  offered  that  sufficient 
pledges  of  the  noblemens  sons  in  Scotland  should  be  sent  to 
France  ;  so  that  no  King  nor  Queen  of  Scotland  did  ever  receive 
more  chearful  obedience  than  her  Majesty  should  do,  notwith- 
standing of  her  absence. 

With  this  answer  I  took  my  journey  through  England  to  France  ; 
and  at  Newcastle  fell  in  company  with  an  Englishman,  who  was 

30 


SIR  JAMES  MELVILLE 


one  of  the  gentlemen  of  the  Queen's  chamber  ;  a  man  well  skill'd 
in  the  mathematicks,  necromancy,  astrologA',  and  was  also  a  good 
geographer  ;  who  had  been  sent  by  the  council  of  England  to  the 
borders,  to  draw  a  map  of  such  lands  as  lay  between  England 
and  Scotland  ;  which  part  was  alledged  to  be  a  fruitful  soil, 
though  at  that  time  it  served  for  no  other  purpose  but  to  be  a 
retreat  to  thieves.  For  Queen  Elizabeth  of  England  was  lately 
come  to  the  crown,  and  had  been  advised  by  her  council  to  this 
course,  as  tending  not  only  to  the  enlarging  of  her  bounds,  but 
rendring  these  parts  civil.  I  know  not  the  reason  why  they 
followed  it  not,  though  I  conjecture  that  the  variance  which  fell 
out  between  the  two  kingdoms  hindred  it.  The  Englishman 
and  I  by  the  way  entred  into  great  familiarity,  so  that  he  shewed 
me  sundry  secrets  of  the  country,  and  of  the  court.  Among  other 
things,  he  told  me,  that  King  Henry  VIII.  had  in  his  life-time 
been  so  curious  as  to  enquire  at  men  called  diviners,  or  necro- 
mancers, what  should  become  of  his  son  King  Edward  VI.  and 
of  his  two  daughters  IVIar>-  and  Elizabeth  :  that  answer  was  made 
unto  him  again,  that  Edward  should  die,  having  few  days,  and  no 
succession  ;  and  that  his  two  daughters  should  the  one  succeed 
the  other  :  that  Mary,  his  eldest  daughter,  should  marry  a 
Spaniard,  and  that  way  bring  in  many  strangers  to  England  ; 
which  would  occasion  great  strife  and  altercation  :  that  Elizabeth 
ohould  reign  after  her,  who  should  marry  either  a  Scottishman 
or  a  Frenchman.  Whereupon  the  King  caused  to  give  poison 
to  both  his  daughters  :  but  because  this  had  not  the  effect  he 
desired  (for  they  finding  themselves  altered  by  vehement  vomitings 
and  purgings,  having  suspected  poison,  had  taken  remedies)  he 
caused  to  proclaim  them  both  bastards.  But  the  women  that 
attended  about  Queen  Mary  alledged  that  her  matrix  was  con- 
sumed :  for  she  was  several  times  supposed  to  be  with  child  to 
King  Philip  of  Spain,  yet  brought  forth  nothing  but  dead  lumps 
of  flesh.  Therefore,  to  be  revenged  upon  her  father,  the  English- 
man told  me,  that  she  had  caused  secretly  in  the  night  to  take  up 
her  father's  bones,  and  burn  them.  This  the  honest  gentleman 
affirmed  to  be  truth,  though  not  known  to  many.  He  was  a  man  of 
great  gravity,  about  fifty  years  of  age.  When  he  came  to  London, 
he  shewed  me  great  kindness,  and  made  meapresent  of  some  books. 
Upon  my  return  to  France,  I  found  a  great  change.  King 
Henry  II.  being  hurt  in  the  head  with  a  shiver  of  a  spear  by  the 
count  of  Montgomery,  at  the  triumphal  justings  of  his  daughter's 
marriage  with  the  King  of  Spain,  died  eight  days  after  at  Paris. 
And  the  constable  my  master  was  commanded  to  retire  him  from 
court  to  his  house,  by  the  new  King,  Francis  II.  husband  to  our 
sovereign  ;  who  was  wholly  guided  by  the  duke  of  Guise,  and  the 
cardinal  of  Lorrain,  competitors  to  the  said  constable  in  court- 
emulation.  Which  occasioned  that  my  voyage,  and  the  answer 
I  had  got,  was  all  in  vain  ;  for  the  house  of  Guise  were  the  chief 
instruments  of  all  the  troubles  in  Scotland. 


31 


THE  MEMOIRS  OF 


When  I  did  shew  the  constable  at  his  house  the  answer  of  my 
commission,  which  was  according  to  his  heart's  desire,  the  tears 
came  over  his  cheeks,  crying,  "  Alack  for  the  loss  of  the  King  my 
good  master,  that  he  should  not  have  seen  before  his  death 
Scotland  recovered  again,  which  he  esteemed  lost  :  seeing  you 
are  thereby  also  frustrate  of  a  good  reward,  which  this  your 
service  merited.  Now  I  have  not  such  interest  as  I  formerly 
had  to  advance  you  ;  but  if  you  will  take  such  part  as  I  have,  you 
shall  be  very  welcome."  I  answered,  that  as  I  had  been  with 
him  in  his  prosperity,  I  would  not  desert  him  in  his  adversity. 

Now  there  was  no  more  appearance  of  concord  betwixt  the 
Queen-regent  and  the  congregation  in  Scotland.  For  the  King 
of  France  was  raising  men  to  send  thither.  The  congregation 
again  sought  help  from  England  ;  which  they  obtained  the  rather, 
because  the  English  ambassador  resident  in  France  had  advertised 
his  mistress,  how  that  the  Queen  of  Scotland  and  her  husband  had 
taken  the  stile  of  England  and  Ireland,  and  also  had  engraven  the 
arms  thereof  upon  their  silver  plate. 

The  Queen-regent  and  Monsieur  d'  Osel  with  his  Frenchmen 
inclose  themselves  within  Leith  ;  which  they  did  fortify  to  receive 
the  French  supply  which  was  daily  expected.  At  length  those 
who  were  besieged  made  a  sally,  caused  the  congregation  to  fly, 
and  took  their  artillery,  till  an  army  from  England  came  under  the 
conduct  of  the  duke  of  Norfolk.  At  which  the  Queen-regent 
being  indisposed  by  the  sea  air  at  Leith,  retired  herself  to  the 
castle  of  Edinburgh  ;  where  she  took  sickness,  and  died,  during 
the  time  that  Leith  was  besieged  both  by  Scotland  and  England  : 
regretting  that  she  had  occasioned  to  herself  and  the  kingdom  so 
much  unnecessary  trouble,  by  following  the  advice  of  her  French 
friends. 

During  the  siege  of  Leith,  all  Scotsmen  who  were  in  France 
Vv-ere  detested  ;  and  divers  of  them  upon  suspicion  made  prisoners. 
Which  obliged  me  to  repair  from  the  constable's  house  to  the 
court,  to  require  licence  from  the  Queen  my  sovereign  to  visit 
other  countries,  whereby  I  might  be  rendered  more  able  afterward 
to  do  her  Majesty  agreeable  service  :  which  she  granted,  and 
presenting  me  to  the  King  her  husband,  I  had  a  kiss  of  his  hand, 
and  so  took  my  leave. 

The  constable  my  good  master  recommended  me  to  the  elector 
Palatine,  advising  me  to  remain  at  his  court  to  learn  the  Dutch 
tongue.  I  was  courteously  received  by  the  said  prince  elector  ; 
and  obtained  such  favour  at  his  hands,  that  he  obliged  me  to 
attend  at  his  court  as  one  of  his  servants.  So  soon  as  he  heard 
of  the  death  of  King  Francis  IL  King  of  France,  who  died  at 
Orleans,  I  was  sent  to  condole  for  the  said  King's  death,  as  the 
custom  of  princes  is,  and  rejoice  with  the  new  young  King  Charles 
IX.,  also  to  comfort  our  Queen  and  the  Queen-mother.  The 
King's  death  made  a  great  change  :  the  Queen-mother  was  glad 
at  the  death  of  King  Francis  her  son,  because  she  had  no  guiding 


32 


SIR  JAMES  MELVILLE 


of  him,  he  being  wholly  counselled  by  the  duke  of  Guise  and  the 
cardinal  his  brother,  the  Queen  our  mistress  being  their  sister's 
daughter  ;  so  that  the  Queen-mother  was  much  satisfied  to  be 
freed  of  the  government  of  the  house  of  Guise  ;  and  for  this 
cause  she  entertained  a  great  grudge  at  our  Queen.  In  the  mean 
time,  the  King  of  Navar  and  Prince  of  Conde,  who  were  im- 
prisoned, and  should  have  been  executed  three  days  after,  the 
scaffold  being  already  prepared,  were  by  the  Queen -mother  set 
at  libertj'.  The  constable  also  having  been  charged  to  come  to 
court,  expected  no  better  measure  :  he  therefore  gave  it  out  that 
he  was  sick  ;  being  carried  in  a  horse-litter,  and  making  little 
journeys,  he  drew  out  the  time  so  long  by  the  way,  that  in  the 
mean  time  the  King  died.  Whereof  being  informed,  he  leaped 
on  a  horse,  and  came  frankly  to  court,  and  like  a  constable  com- 
manded the  men  of  war  who  were  upon  the  guards.  The  duke 
of  Guise  and  his  brother  were  commanded  out  of  the  town. 
The  Queen-mother  was  glad  at  the  constable's  coming,  seeing 
she  found  herself  by  his  authority  and  friendship  with  the  King 
of  Navar  the  more  in  capacity  to  drive  the  house  of  Guise  from 
court. 

The  estates  were  convened  at  Orleans,  and  for  the  time  the 
King  of  Navar  fell  to  be  tutor  and  governor  to  the  young  King 
and  the  country.  But  the  Queen-mother  knowing  his  faculty,', 
hand-led  the  matter  so  finely  by  the  constable's  help,  that  the  King 
of  Navar  procured  from  the  three  estates  that  the  Queen-mother 
should  be  regent  of  the  realm  :  to  whom  he  rendered  up  his  place, 
being  satisfied  to  be  but  her  lieutenant.  She  having  attained  this 
great  point,  caused  the  estates  to  require,  that  an  account  should 
be  made  to  them,  by  the  duke  of  Guise,  the  marshal  de  St.  Andre, 
and  the  cardinal,  of  their  intromission  with  the  King's  rents,  and 
affairs  of  the  King  and  country.  Whereupon  they  left  the  court, 
binding  themselves  together  to  defend  themselves  against  the 
Queen-mother's  malice  :  for,  in  effect,  she  was  a  deadly  enemy 
to  all  of  them  who  had  either  guided  her  husband  or  her  eldest 
son. 

I  was  all  this  time  at  Orleans,  where  I  might  see  this  change, 
and  had  great  favour  of  the  King  of  Navar  for  the  elector  Palatine's 
sake,  who  was  his  great  friend.  The  Queen-mother  also  highly 
esteemed  the  said  prince  elector,  dispatching  me  with  great  thanks, 
and  a  gift  worth  a  thousand  crowns. 

Our  Queen  in  the  mean  time  seeing  her  friends  in  disgrace, 
and  knowing  herself  not  to  be  much  liked,  she  left  the  court,  and 
was  a  sorrowful  widow,  when  I  took  leave  of  her  at  a  gentleman's 
house  four  miles  from  Orleans.  So  I  returned  to  Dutchland, 
with  many  instructions  from  the  Queen-mother  and  King  of 
Navar.  For  she  appeared  to  be  inclined  to  profess  publickly  the 
reformed  religion,  thinking  it  the  meetest  way  to  retain  the  govern- 
ment and  guiding  of  the  King  of  Navar  ;  that  being  the  only 
faction  which  appeared  able  to  gainstand  the  house  of  Guise, 

33 


THE  MEMOIRS  OF 


who  were  banded  with  the  Pope  and  King  of  Spain.  The  said 
Queen-mother  Hkewise  entertained  some  resolutions  of  joining 
with  the  protestant  princes  of  Dutchland,  and  with  the  Queen  of 
England,  count  Egmont  prince  of  Orange,  count  Horn,  and  such 
as  had  in  the  Low  Countries  embraced  the  reformed  rehgion,  or 
stood  up  for  the  Hberty  of  their  country. 

I  bemg  returned  to  Dutchland  received  news  out  of  England 
from  Mr.  Killegrew  my  old  friend,  that  the  peace  was  concluded 
in  Scotland  at  the  siege  of  Leith  :  that  the  Frenchmen  were  to  be 
carried  to  France  in  the  Queen  of  England's  ships  :  that  the  Queen 
of  Scotland  was  to  lay  aside  the  arms  of  England  :  and  the  con- 
gregation to  have  the  free  exercise  of  their  religion.  I  leave  all  the 
proceedings  in  the  wars  in  Scotland  to  be  declared  by  such  as 
were  present,  who  will  probably  write  that  whole  history  :  I  shall 
only  touch  such  things  as  I  myself  was  employed  in,  which  I  did 
see  with  my  eyes,  and  hear  with  my  ears,  which  may  serve  for 
little  parentheses  to  historiographers,  who  had  not  the  occasion 
of  being  so  well  therewith  acquainted. 

Our  Queen,  then  dowager  of  France,  retired  herself  by  little 
and  little  further  and  further  from  the  court  of  France,  that  it 
might  not  appear  that  she  was  any  way  compelled  thereto,  as  of  a 
truth  she  was  by  the  Queen-mother's  rigorous  dealing,  who 
alledged  that  she  had  been  despised  by  her  daughter-in-law, 
during  the  short  reign  of  King  Francis  II.  her  husband,  at  the 
instigation  of  the  house  of  Guise. 

Monsieur  de  Martigues,  Monsieur  d'  Osel.  la  Brosse,  the 
bishop  of  Amiens,  and  such  other  Frenchmen  as  were  lately 
carried  out  of  Scotland  in  the  English  ships,  resorted  to  our  Queen, 
and  declared  unto  her  the  whole  progress  of  affairs,  and  the  state 
of  the  kingdom.  These,  as  well  as  the  rest  of  her  friends,  advised 
her  to  return  to  Scotland  (encouraging  her  with  the  hopes  of 
succeeding  to  the  crown  of  England)  rather  than  to  endure  the 
Queen-mother's  disdain  in  France  :  desiring  her,  as  most  con- 
ducing for  her  interest,  to  serve  the  time,  to  accommodate  herself 
discreetly  and  gently  to  her  own  subjects  ;  to  be  most  familiar 
with  my  lord  James,  prior  of  St.  Andrew's,  her  natural  brother  ; 
and  with  the  earl  of  Argile.  who  had  married  lady  Jean  Stuart, 
her  natural  sister  ;  and  to  use  the  secretary  Lidington  and  the 
laird  of  Grange  most  tenderly  in  all  her  affairs  ;  and,  in  sum, 
to  repose  most  upon  those  of  the  reformed  religion.  Thus,  those 
who  were  a  little  before  cruelly  persecuted,  are  now  to  be  esteemed 
for  chiefest  and  truest  friends.  Thus  can  God  by  his  divine 
providence  renverse  the  finest  practices  and  pretences  of  mighty 
rulers  and  potentates,  and  turn  all  to  the  best  to  such  as  serve  him 
with  a  sincere  heart  :  as,  on  the  other  hand,  God  abhorreth  such 
subjects  as  hypocritically,  under  pretext  of  religion,  take  occasion 
to  rebel  against  their  native  princes,  for  ambition,  greediness,  or 
any  other  worldly  respect. 

The  prior  of  St.  Andrew's  being   advertised   of   the   Queen 

34 


SIR  JAMES  MELVILLE 


his  sovereign's  deliberation  to  return  to  Scotland,  and  to 
use  his  and  his  friends  advice  ;  he  goeth  himself  to  France, 
requesting  her  Majesty  to  return  to  her  own,  promising  to 
serve  her  faithfully  to  the  utmost  of  his  power  :  and  returns 
again  to  Scotland,  to  prepare  the  hearts  of  her  subjects  against  her 
home-coming.  After  this,  her  Majesty  went  to  Janville,  the  duke 
of  Guise's  dwelling-place,  about  the  marches  of  Lorrain,  and  at 
length  went  to  visit  the  duke  of  Lorrain  at  Nancy  ;  where  I 
chanced  to  come  shortly  after,  in  company  of  the  duke  Casimir 
second  son  to  the  elector  Palatine.  But  the  Queen  was  already 
parted  from  the  court  of  Lorrain  toward  Janville  ;  whither  I  took 
occasion  to  go  to  tender  to  her  Majesty  the  offer  of  my  most  humble 
and  dutiful  service.  And  the  said  duke  Casiniir,  understanding 
that  I  w^as  to  ride  thither,  did  write  a  very  kind  letter  to  her 
Majesty,  comforting  her  the  best  he  could,  offering  his  service  in 
case  any  in  France  should  wrong  or  injure  her,  and  that  he  would 
bring  to  her  aid  upon  her  letter  loooo  men.  Her  Majest^'  was 
much  refreshed  with  this  friendly  offer  ;  and  she  was  pleased  to 
give  me  thanks  for  the  demonstrations  I  had  given  of  being  entirely 
de\oted  to  her  interest,  shewing  me  she  had  been  made  acquainted 
therewith  while  I  was  at  the  court  of  France.  She  desired  me 
earnestly,  when  I  resolved  to  retire  out  of  Germany,  to  come 
home  and  serve  her  Majesty,  with  very  friendly  and  favourable 
offers.  So  I  returned  back  to  the  duke  Casimir,  who  was  about 
contracting  a  marriage  with  the  duke  of  Lorrain's  eldest  sister  : 
which  took  not  effect,  because  the  old  dutchess  her  mother, 
who  was  King  Christieri^us  daughter  of  Denmark,  begotten  upon 
the  Emperor  Charles's  sister  who  also  lost  the  kingdom  of 
Denmark,  pretending  to  make  it  hereditable,  whereas  it  was 
elective  (the  said  King  Chiistiemus  was  kept  in  prison,  till  his 
death)  ;  this  dutchess  [I  say]  his  daughter  alledged,  that  the 
kingdom  of  Norway  appertained  unto  her,  as  heir  unto  her  father, 
and  that  the  said  Kingdom  was  hereditary  unto  her  father, 
albeit  Denmark  was  not  ;  and  intended  then  to  marry  her  eldest 
daughter  unto  Frederick  King  of  Denmark,  and  to  give  over  with 
her  said  daughter  the  kingdom  of  Norway.  But  the  said  dutchess 
offered  unto  duke  Casimir  her  second  daughter  ;  which  he  refused, 
and  dealt  with  his  father  to  send  me  unto  England,  to  propose 
marriage  for  him  unto  the  Queen  of  England.  But  I  refused  to 
undertake  that  commission,  having  ground  to  conjecture  that  she 
would  never  marry,  upon  the  reflexion  I  made  upon  that  story 
one  of  the  gentlemen  of  her  chamber  had  told  me  .  seeing  the 
knowing  herself  unable  for  succession,  I  supposed  she  would 
never  render  herself  subject  to  any  man.  The  said  duke  was 
very  much  displeased  at  me,  because  I  refused. 

About  this  time  the  cardinal  of  Lorrain  being  at  Trent,  took 
occasion  to  visit  the  old  Emperor  Ferdinand  at  Inspruck  his 
dwelHng-place,  not  far  from  Trent.  And  there  the  said  cardinal 
proposed  two  marriages,  first  the  King  of  France  Charles  IX.  to 

35 


THE  MEMOIRS  OF 


the  eldest  daughter  of  Maximilian  son  to  Ferdinand,  lately  chosen 
King  of  the  Romans,  and  coadjutor  to  the  empire.  Then  he 
proposed  the  Queen  of  Scotland  dowager  of  France  to  Charles 
archduke  of  Austria,  brother  to  the  said  Maximilian. 

The  Queen  was  by  this  time  returned  to  Scotland,  and  apparently 
had  been  advertised  by  the  said  cardinal,  that  he  had  proposed 
the  said  marriage,  and  it  seems  she  had  relished  the  overture. 

Her   Majesty   returning  was   gladly  welcomed   by  the  whole 

subjects.     For  at  first,  following  the  counsel  of  her  iriends,  she 

behaved   herself  humanely   to   them   all,   committing   the   chief 

handling  of  her  affairs  unto  her  brother  the  prior  of  St.  Andrew's, 

whom  afterward  she  made  earl  of  Murray,  and  to  the  secretary 

Lidington,  as  meetest,  both  to  hold  the  country  at  her  devotion, 

and  also  to  beget  a  strict  friendship  between  her  Majesty  and  the 

Queen  of  England.     For  my  lord  Murray  had  great  credit  with 

my  lord  Robert  Dudley,  who  was  afterward  made  earl  of  Leicester. 

And  the  secretary  Lidington  had  great  credit  with  the  secretary 

Cecil.     So  that  these  four  made  a  strict  and  sisterly  friendship 

between  the  two  Queens,  and   their  countries.     So  that  there 

appeared  outwardly  no  more  difference,  but  that  the  Queen  of 

England  was  the  elder  sister,  and  the  Queen  of  Scotland  the 

younger,  whom  the  Queen  of  England  promised  to  declare  second 

person,  according  to  her  good  behaviour.     So  that  letters  and 

correspondence  past  weekly  betwixt  them  ;    and  at  first  there 

appeared  nothing  more  desired  by  either  of  them,  than  that  they 

might  see  one  another,  by  a  meeting  at  a  convenient  place,  whereby 

they  might  also  declare  their  hearty  and  loving  minds  each  to 

other  :  for  our  Queen  was  so  nettled  with  the  hard  usage  she  had 

met  with  from  the  Queen-mother  of  France,  who  had  likewise 

hardly  used  all  her  friends  of  the  house  of  Guise,  that  she  was  the 

more  earnest  to  make  friendship  with  her,  and  vv'ith  such  whom 

she  knew  that  Queen  liked  worst.     The  two  Queens  this  way 

keeping  on  their  outward  friendship  for  a  while,  with  the  plain 

and  honest  meaning  of  our  Queen,  as  I  afterward  did  perfectly 

know  ;  there  came  a  letter  to  me  out  of  Scotland  from  the  secretary 

Lidington,  at  the  Queen's  command,  desiring  me  to  make  myself 

acquainted  with  the  archduke  Charles  of  Austria,  youngest  brother 

to  Maximilian  then  King  of  the  Romans,  and  Emperor  in  effect ; 

for  the  Emperor  Ferdinand  his  father  had  nothing  but  the  name, 

by  reason  of  his  age.     I  was  desired  to  inform  my  se  f  concerning 

his  religion,  his  rents  and  his  qualities,  his  age  and  stature,  and 

desired  to  send  home  word,  and  therewith  to  send  his  picture,  if 

it  could  be  done.     It  was  thought  I  might  obtain  the  occasion 

thereof  by  means  of  the  elector  Palatine  my  master,  for  the  time 

greatest  in  favour  with  the  Emperor  Maximilian. 

Now  my  lord  elector  being  at  an  imperial  convention  holden 
at  Ausburg,  had  of  his  own  head  enquired  of  Maximilian,  what  the 
cardinal  of  Lorrain's  business  had  been  with  his  father  Ferdinand 
when  he  came  to  see  him  from  Trent :   for  the  good  elector  was 

36 


SIR  JAMES  MELVILLE 


afraid  it  had  been  about  some  matters  of  religion.  For  Ferdinand 
was  a  devout  catholick,  and  Maximilian  appeared  to  be  a  zealous 
protestant  :  for  he  was  but  lately  chosen  King  of  the  Romans  at 
Frankfort,  not  without  difficulty.  Being  himself  one  of  the  seven 
electors  as  King  of  Bohemia,  he  was  to  sue  six  electors  for  their 
votes  ;  to  wit,  the  elector  Palatine,  the  duke  of  Saxony,  and  the 
duke  of  Brandenburg,  three  protestant  princes  ;  and  three  bishops, 
Mcntz,  Triers  and  Cologne,  catholicks.  Both  these  factions  were 
put  in  hope,  that  being  Emperor  he  would  declare  himself  of  their 
principles.  In  the  meantime  he  used  secret  preachings,  to  please 
the  protestants  :  but  he  went  openly  to  the  mass,  whereby  the 
bishops  thought  themselves  assured  of  him.  But  the  good  elector 
Palatine  believed  firmly,  that  after  his  father's  death  he  would 
declare  himself  a  plain  protestant.  Thus  he  won  both  parties  to 
make  him  Emperor.  He  told  the  elector  Palatine  at  the  convention 
in  Ausburg,  that  the  cardinal  of  Lorrain  had  proposed  two 
marriages  to  the  Emperor  his  father  :  the  one  was,  Charles  young 
King  of  France  to  his  own  eldest  daughter  ;  the  other  was,  the 
Queen  of  Scotland,  dowager  of  France,  to  his  brother  the  arch- 
duke Charles.  The  elector  enquired  how  he  relished  these  t\vo 
marriages.  He  answered  he  could  not  but  like  well  of  them, 
seeing  he  was  not  to  expect  a  better  match  to  his  daughter  than  the 
King  of  France,  nor  to  his  brother  than  the  Queen  of  Scotland, 
who  the  cardinal  also  alledged  had  right  to  the  crown  of  England. 
The  elector  said,  that  since  he  was  pleased  with  the  overture  of 
marrying  his  brother  to  the  Queen  of  Scotland,  that  he  had  a 
Scottish  gentleman  with  him,  who  could  be  a  good  instrument  to 
bring  forward  the  said  marriage. 

Whereupon  Maximilian  desired  to  speak  with  me  ;  and  because 
for  the  time  I  was  in  the  country  of  Hesse,  he  desired  him  to  send 
me  to  him  upon  my  return.  Which  the  elector  did,  and  sent  with 
me  one  of  his  council,  called  Monsieur  Zuligur,  joining  us  in  one 
commission.  When  we  had  given  account  of  our  said  commission, 
my  companion  told  the  Emperoi,  that  I  had  a  particular  with  his 
majest\%  and  so  retired  himself,  leaving  me  alone  in  the  chamber  : 
where  I  presented  a  letter  to  him,  written  with  the  elector's  own 
hand  in  Dutch,  signifying  that  I  was  the  Scotsman  whom  he 
promised  to  send  unto  him.  After  he  had  read  the  writing,  he 
did  shew  me  the  part  wherein  the  elector  assured  him  that  I  would 
shew  him  the  truth  of  all  such  things  as  I  knew,  which  he  would 
ask  of  me,  saying,  you  are  much  obliged  to  the  elector  Palatine, 
for  he  hath  given  me  a  very  good  character  of  you.  I  pray  you, 
says  he,  tell  me  how  long  you  have  been  in  his  company.  I  said, 
more  than  three  years.  He  inquired  why  I  did  not  answer  in 
Dutch.  I  answe.'-cd,  because  I  had  the  French  more  farniliar, 
and  knew  that  no  language  could  come  wrong  to  his  majesty. 
For  he  could  very  promptly  speak  good  Latin,  Italian,  Spanish, 
Sclavonian  and  French.  Then  he  enquired  again  in  French,  how 
I  came  to  the  elector  Palatine.     I  told  him,  that  being  brought  up 


37 


THE  MEMOIRS  OF 


at  the  court  of  France  with  the  constable,  there  had  fallen  out 
some  variance  between  France  and  Scotland,  partly  occasioned 
from  difference  in  religion,  and  partly  from  other  particulars, 
whence  proceeded  a  general  dislike  at  the  court  of  all  Scotsmen 
at  that  time  in  France,  some  being  upon  suspicion  imprisoned, 
others  look'd  down  upon  ;  the  consideration  whereof  hastned 
my  prosecuting  a  former  intention  I  had  deliberated  upon,  of 
visiting  other  countries  :  that  being  minded  to  begin  at  Dutch- 
land,  the  constable  of  France  had  by  his  letter  addressed  me  to 
the  elector  Palatine.  He  enquired  how  long  I  had  remained  with 
the  constable.  I  answered,  nine  years.  He  said,  I  was  happy  who 
had  been  so  long  in  company  with  two  of  the  wisest  men  in 
Europe,  and  was  pleased  to  say  that  he  was  glad  of  the  occasion 
of  being  acquainted  with  me.  He  began  more  particularly  to 
shew  unto  me  the  cause  why  he  desired  to  speak  with  me,  enquiring 
concerning  the  estate  of  Scotland,  of  the  late  troubles  with  France, 
of  the  agreement  new  made,  what  great  men  had  the  greatest 
interest,  and  all  the  noblemens  names  who  had  assisted  both 
parties.  He  proceeded  to  enquire  further,  what  help  England 
had  made  unto  Scotland  during  the  troubles  with  France  ;  if 
they  were  bandied  together  ;  if  their  friendship  continued  ;  and 
of  the  Queen's  title  to  England  ;  if  the  nobility  of  Scotland  would 
concur  to  advance  her  to  the  crown  of  England  ;  if  they  would 
think  it  the  interest  of  Scotland  to  have  the  two  kingdoms  joined 
in  one,  seeing  it  was  to  be  supposed,  that  the  Queen  or  Prince 
would  certainly  chuse  to  dwell  in  the  best  country  ;  and  thereby 
would  be  further  from  them.  These  and  several  other  things  he 
inquired,  and  I  answered  as  I  thought  most  pertinent.  When 
he  had  heard  my  returns,  he  was  pleased  to  say  it  was  not  the  least 
good  office  that  my  lord  elector  had  done  him,  in  sending  me  to 
him,  and  gave  me  thanks  that  I  had  been  at  the  pains  to  come. 
If  Charles  my  brother,  says  he,  were  so  happy  as  to  obtain  your 
Queen  in  marriage,  no  man  shall  have  more  credit  with  him  than 
you.  He  desired  me  to  abide  with  him  some  time,  that  he  might 
discourse  with  me  at  more  length.  So  I  tarried  with  him  twenty 
days  with  very  favourable  entertainment  ;  and  discoursing  with 
me  several  times,  he  put  me  in  hope  that  his  brother  Charles 
would  be  shortly  at  home  :  and  gave  me  an  account  of  such  news 
as  came  to  him  from  all  countries.  It  was  he  who  first  told  me 
of  the  death  of  the  duke  of  Guise,  killed  by  Poltrot  at  the  siege  of 
Orleans.  He  appeared  to  be  very  glad  at  the  death  of  that  gallant 
warrior,  though  I  could  not  conjecture  for  the  time  what  could 
move  him.  By  frequent  conference  with  him,  I  suspected  that 
he  would  be  an  enemy  to  the  marriage  of  his  brother  with  our 
Queen  :  but,  to  get  some  further  trial  thereof,  I  requested  my 
companion  Monsieur  Zuliger  to  drink  himself  merry  with  some  of 
his  secretaries,  and  then  to  cast  in  the  purpose  of  the  marriage  of 
our  Queen  with  duke  Charles,  whether  or  no  it  was  desired  or 
relished  by  the  Emperor.     The  said  secretary  shewed  him  plainly, 

38 


SIR  JAMES  MELVILLE 


that  he  was  against  any  such  preferment  to  his  brother,  whereby 
he  might  become  king  "both  of  Scotland  and  England,  by  reason  of 
an  essay  that  the  emperor  Charles  V.  had  made  once,  to  divide  his 
dommions_  among  the  three  sons  of  Ferdinand  his  brother,  failing 
heirs  of  Kmg  Philip  his  son,  who  then  had  but  one  son,  Don 
Carlo,  sickly,  and  of  a  tender  weak  complexion  ;  whom  he  after- 
wards himself  killed  secretly  in  prison,  suspecting  him  to  be  of  the 
reformed  religion,  and  to  keep  intelligence  with  the  princes  of 
Flanders  who  professed  the  same.  And  Maximilian  hoped  to 
succeed  to  the  whole,  failing  heirs  of  the  said  King  Philip,  as 
having  married  the  said  Philip's  sister,  and  having  by  her  manv 
children  of  his  own,  whom  he  rather  desired  to  be  preferred  than 
his  own  brother.  For  in  case  the  archduke  Charles  had  been 
made  King  of  Scotland  and  England,  he  thought  thereby  he 
would  have  the  fitter  occasion  of  usurping  the  Low  Countries, 
upon  the  pretext  of  some  old  right. 

Having  understood  this,  I  would  wait  no  longer  but  pressed 
daily  for  my  dispatch,  that  I  might  return  to  my  lord  elector  : 
and  the  emperor  again  used  great  intreaties  to  oblige  me  to  stay 
with  him,  promising  to  advance  me  if  I  would  enter  into  his 
service  ;  but  finding  no  inclination  in  me  to  comply  with  his 
desire  therein,  he  at  length  willed  me  to  stay  with  him  but  half  a 
year.  But  I  humbly  excused  myself,  pretending  that  I  behoved 
to  be  shortly  in  Scotland  ;  which  moved  him  the  more  earnestly 
to  desire  me  to  stay  with  him  :  which  because  I  would  not  grant 
to  do,  I  found  he  was  discontent.  One  night  late  after  supper 
he  parted  in  a  boat  towards  the  town  of  Lintz,  and  sent  his  secre- 
tary unto  me,  excusing  himself  that  he  did  not  meet  with  me  before 
parting,  seeing  an  urgent  occasion  called  for  his  speedy  departure  : 
and  seeing  I  was  to  return  to  Scotland,  he  had  written  a  letter  to 
the  Queen  in  my  favour,  which  the  secretary  delivered  unto  me. 
I  told  the  secretary  that  I  had  not  yet  seen  Italy,  and  that  I  was 
purposed  first  to  visit  Rome,  Venice,  Florence,  and  the  most 
remarkable  cities  there,  ere  I  returned  to  Scotland  :  upon  which 
account,  at  first  I  refused  the  said  letter  ;  but  he  answered  there 
was  no  danger  how  long  it  was  undelivered,  seeing  there  was 
nothing  therein  contained  but  what  concerned  myself. 

The  town  of  Ausburg  being  the  nearest  port  of  Germany  to 
Venice,  I  agreed  with  Alonsieur  Zuliger  to  return  toward  my  loid 
elector,  and  thence  I  took  my  journey  towards  Venice  and  Rome  : 
and  came  back  through  all  the  fairest  cities  of  Italy,  and  through 
Switzerland  to  Heidelberg,  where  the  prince  elector  kept  his 
court. 

I  have  above  declared  how  that  the  duke  of  Guise  was  slain  by 
Poltrot  at  the  siege  of  Orleans.  It  was  after  the  battle  of  Dreux, 
in  the  which  both  the  chieftains  were  taken  :  the  prince  of  Conde 
for  those  of  the  religion,  and  the  constable  for  the  King.  The 
Queen-mother  incontinently  made  the  peace,  far  against  the  mind 
of  Madam  de  Guise,  who  earnestly  requested  her  not  to  make  the 

39 


THE  MEMOIRS  OF 


peace  so  suddenly,  lest  it  should  be  thought  that  the  duke  of  Guise 
had  only  had  hand  in  the  wars.  But  nevertheless  the  Queen- 
mother  went  fox'ward  with  the  peace,  changing  the  prince  of 
Conde  for  the  constable,  making  them  both  good  instruments  of 
the  agreement. 

The  peace  being  made,  the  Queen-mother  began  to  think  upon 
a  wife  for  her  son  King  Charles.  For  that  effect,  she  sent  unto 
the  prince  Palatine  a  secretary  called  Monsieur  Mylot,  shewing 
unto  him  that  the  King  her  son  was  very  desirous  to  marry 
Maximilian's  eldest  daughter  :  intreating  him  as  a  trusty  friend 
to  propose  the  matter  as  of  his  own  head,  as  a  steadable  alliance, 
conducing  for  the  weal  of  the  empire  ;  and  to  send  her  the  picture 
of  the  princess,  which  she  thought  fit  to  be  done  upon  same 
considerations,  before  she  would  proceed  more  publickly.  Which 
affair  he  went  about  most  diligently,  and  he  was  pleased  to  send 
me  with  the  answer  and  picture,  with  a  congratulation  of  the  late 
made  peace. 

At  my  coming  to  the  court  of  Franca,  which  was  at  Paris  for  the 
time,  the  constable  would  needs  be  my  convoy  to  the  young  King 
and  Queen-mother,  who  had  a  misliking  of  the  said  constable  for 
the  time,  because  he  had  brought  in  the  admiral  to  Paris  against 
her  will,  who  was  accused  to  have  promised  reward  unto  the 
foresaid  Poltrot,  to  kill  the  duke  of  Guise.  The  admiral  again 
desired  to  come  before  the  privy  council  to  purge  himself,  offering 
to  undergo  his  trial.  But  the  Queen-mother  desired  not  these 
animosities  among  the  great  men  to  be  removed,  but  rather  wished 
that  their  hatred  might  continue,  and  their  contentions  increase, 
as  having  laid  her  plot  to  secure  her  own  greatness  by  the  means 
of  their  strife,  as  was  after  manifestly  seen.  For  during  their 
divisions,  the  duke  of  Guise,  King  of  Navarre,  prince  of  Conde, 
the  constable,  the  marshal  de  St.  Andre,  with  the  most  notable 
great  men  of  France,  were  all  slain.  And  because  the  said 
admiral  escaped  during  the  wars,  the  peace  was  made  for  the  third 
time  ;  and  under  the  covert  of  marriage  of  the  young  King  of 
Navarre,  who  was  afterward  King  of  France,  the  said  admiral 
was  barbarously  murdered  with  all  that  remained  of  the  worthiest 
noblemen  and  captains  of  France.  But  to  return  to  the  purpose  : 
the  constable  and  admiral  were  at  court  at  that  time  against  the 
Queen-mother's  will,  where  the  admiral  was  declared  innocent  of 
the  duke  of  Guise's  slaughter.  And  at  that  time  the  constable 
determined  to  abide  at  court,  and  to  maintain  himself  in  his  office 
of  great  master,  by  the  authority  of  his  great  office  of  the  con- 
stabulary, assisted  by  the  force  of  his  friends  ;  foi  he  sufficiently 
understood  the  Queen-mother's  Italian  tricks.  Therefore,  to 
win  credit,  he  presented  me  to  the  young  King,  and  sat  down  upon 
a  stool  by  him  and  the  Queen  his  mother,  and  held  his  bonnet 
upon  his  head,  taking  upon  him  the  full  authority  of  his  great 
office,  to  the  Queen-mother's  great  discontent  ;  whereat  she  was 
so  impatient,  that  she  turned  away  her  face  when  I  was  declaring 

40 


SIR  JAMES  MELVILLE 


mj'  commission.  After  the  delivery  of  my  letters  of  credence  to 
the  King  and  her,  %vhich  the  King  was  very  glad  to  hear,  being 
thereby  put  in  hope  tliat  the  marriage  would  take  effect  ;  he  was 
so  desirous  to  see  the  picture  of  that  young  princess,  that  he  cut 
the  thread  himself  that  bound  on  the  wax-cloth  about  the  said 
picture.  In  the  meantime  I  retired  me  forth  of  the  chamber  ; 
and  was  earnestly  sought  after  the  rest  of  the  day,  but  could  not 
be  found,  until  the  constable  and  admiral  came  to  their  chamber 
at  even  ;  who  enquiring  of  me  the  cause  of  my  retiring,  I  re- 
membered the  constable,  in  what  a  rage  the  Queen-mother  was 
when  I  delivered  my  commission  ;  and  that  I  found  myself 
obliged  in  honour  to  stand  upon  the  reputation  of  my  master,  who 
was  a  free  prince.  Whereupon  they  appeared  well  satisfied, 
approving  what  I  had  done  ;  but  withal  they  told  me,  that  they 
were  the  cause  of  that  bad  humour  the  Queen-mother  had  been 
in,  and  that  she  had  made  a  proclamation,  that  all  ambassadors 
should  address  themselves  to  the  King,  and  her  as  regent.  There- 
fore they  advised  me  to  go  the  next  day  to  see  her  at  dinner, 
assuring  me  that  she  would  not  fail  to  call  for  me,  and  enquire  the 
cause  of  my  absenting  before  I  had  told  out  my  commission  ; 
and  he  instructed  me  what  I  should  say  in  answer.  So  soon  as 
her  Majesty  perceived  me,  she  desired  me  to  stay  till  she  had 
dined,  telling  me  that  she  would  send  for  her  son  the  King  to 
come  to  her  chamber,  to  hear  out  the  rest  of  my  commission. 

The  King  being  come,  the  chamber  was  voided,  and  her 
]\Iajesty  first  enquired  why  I  told  not  out  the  rest  of  my  com- 
mission the  day  before  ?  I  answered,  as  I  had  been  instructed, 
how  that  it  appeared  to  me  for  the  time,  she  desired  not  so  many 
auditors,  and  that  I  stayed  upon  her  better  opportunity  ;  which 
answer  she  appeared  much  to  relish,  desiring  me  when  at  any 
other  time  I  should  be  sent  again,  to  address  myself  only  to  the 
King,  and  to  her,  and  to  no  other.  I  answered,  that  among  ail 
the  King's  ser\'ants  I  was  best  acquainted  with  the  constable, 
and  therefore  had  made  him  my  convoy  to  both  their  Majesties. 
No,  says  she,  I  find  no  fault  that  you  addressed  yourself  to  him  ; 
yet  I  knew  she  entertained  a  mortal  hatred  against  him.  So  after 
I  had  ended  the  declaration  of  my  whole  commission,  first  con- 
cerning the  congratulation  of  the  peace,  and  then  made  excuses 
in  the  name  of  the  confederate  princes  of  the  empire  for  sending 
help  to  the  prince  of  Conde  during  the  wars  for  religion,  with  a 
request  to  keep  the  said  peace  inviolate,  and  to  make  such  laws 
of  oblivion,  as  were  wont  to  be  done  among  the  Greeks  and 
Romans,  after  such  civil  dissentions.  And  then  I  gave  a  full 
account,  how  my  lord  elector  had  proceeded  with  Maximilian, 
and  what  his  answer  was.  All  the  time  that  I  spoke,  she  re- 
membered the  King  to  take  good  notice,  saying,  he  was  much 
obliged  to  that  good  prince,  that  took  such  pains  for  his  marriage 
and  the  weal  of  his  kingdom.  Then  she  drew  me  aside,  entering 
into  a  particular  discourse  with  me,  telling  me  that  she  hoped  I 

41 


THE  MEMOIRS  OF 


would  not  make  too  long  stay  in  Dutchland,  but  resolve  to  spend 
some  of  my  time  in  the  court  of  France,  seeing  it  was  there  I  had 
been  brought  up.  For  albeit,  she  said,  she  had  several  who  could 
speak  Dutch,  yet  there  was  none  about  her,  who  were  so  familiar 
with  the  princes  of  the  empire  as  I  was,  or  had  such  favour  and 
credit,  as  she  understood  I  had,  to  do  the  King  and  her  service. 
Therefore  she  offered  to  make  me  a  gentleman  of  the  King's 
chamber,  to  provide  me  with  an  honourable  pension,  to  advance 
me  to  offices  and  honours,  as  if  I  had  been  a  Frenchman  born  ; 
and  that  she  would  employ  me  not  only  to  Germany,  but  also  to 
England  and  Flanders.  I  gave  her  Majesty  many  thanks,  taking 
her  offer  to  my  consideration.  In  the  mean  lime  that  I  was 
waiting  upon  my  dispatch,  the  admiral's  death  was  conspired  by 
the  brother  and  friends  of  the  duke  of  Guise,  to  be  executed  by 
captain  Charray,  in  great  favour  with  the  Queen-mother  as  chief 
captain  of  her  guard,  commanding  joo  hacbutiers  Gascons. 
The  said  enterprise  being  discovered  to  the  constable  by  the  old 
dutchess  of  Ferrara,  daughter  to  King  Lewis  XII.  mother  to  the 
widow  dutchess  of  Guise.  The  constable  went  to  his  house,  four 
leagues  from  Paris  ;  and  the  next  day  after  the  said  captain  Charry 
was  slain  upon  the  streets  of  Paris,  by  Monsieur  Chattelier  the 
admiral's  friend  ;  which  put  the  Queen  and  all  the  court  into  a 
fear  and  firm  opinion  that  the  deed  was  done  by  the  constable's 
and  admiral's  direction.  But  the  admiral  purged  himself  ;  the 
constable  was  sent  for,  and  many  requests  made  to  him  to  settle 
and  establish  quietness  in  the  court  and  city. 

While  I  was  yet  at  Paris  undispatched,  I  received  letters  from 
the  earl  of  Murray  and  Lidington  at  the  Queen's  command, 
calling  me  home  to  be  employed  in  her  Majesty's  service,  in  some 
of  her  affairs  of  consequence  ;  which  I  presupposed  to  be  con- 
cerning her  marriage.  Whereupon  I  determined  to  obey  my 
Queen's  commands,  and  immediately  after  my  return  to  Germany, 
to  prepare  for  a  journey  to  Scotland  ;  though  this  resolution  of 
mine  was  far  contrary  to  the  mind  of  the  constable,  admiral  and 
prince  Palatine.  But  his  son  duke  Casimir  took  occasion  to 
desire  me  to  present  his  picture  to  Queen  Elizabeth.  I  have 
said  already  that  he  was  very  dissatisfied,  because  I  refused  to 
go  to  England  to  propose  marriage  for  him  to  the  Queen,  he 
having  been  encouraged  thereto  by  the  vidame  of  Chartes,  lately 
come  hither  from  the  court  of  England,  who  thought  himself  so 
familiar  with  that  Queen,  that  he  sent  an  Italian  gentleman  of 
his,  to  propose  that  marriage,  as  he  alledged,  at  the  instance  of 
the  elector  Palatine,  to  whom  the  Queen  gave  a  general  answer, 
desiring  the  young  prince  to  come  into  England,  either  openly,, 
or  privately  disguised,  and  declaring  that  she  would  never  marry 
man  till  she  might  first  see  him.  Notwithstanding  hereof  I  still 
dissuaded  his  father  from  sending  him,  alledging  that  he  would 
be  very  chargeable  to  him,  and  that  he  would  reap  nothing  but 
scorn  in  recompence.     Whereat  the  young  prince  was  so  moved 

42 


SIR  "JAMES  MELVILLE 


that  he  left  the  court  for  three  days.  But  the  good  prince  his 
father  sent  for  him,  threatning  to  discountenance  him  if  he 
became  not  my  friend.  Whereupon  \ve  agreed,  that  at  this  time 
I  should  carry  with  me  his  picture,  and  present  it  to  the  Queen  of 
England  in  my  return  to  Scotland,  seeing  I  was  so  averse  from  his 
going  thither  in  person.  Which  I  was  satisfied  to  do,  providing 
that  I  might  also  carr^'  along  with  me,  the  picture  of  his  father 
and  mother,  and  of  all  the  rest  of  his  brothers  and  sisters,  together 
with  a  familiar  letter  from  the  elector,  w-hereby  I  might  have  the 
more  easy  access,  and  fitter  opportunits'  to  bring  in  the  purpose . 
of  the  pictures,  as  by  accident  hoping  that  she  would  desire  to  see 
them,  especially  the  picture  of  the  said  young  duke. 

So  having  obtained  my  desire,  I  parted  from  Heidelberg, 
where  the  elector  held  his  court  for  the  time,  who  gave  me  a 
commission  to  the  Queen  of  England  ;  to  wit,  an  answer  to  her 
demanded  alliance,  offensive  and  defensive,  with  the  protestant 
princes  of  Germany,  which  formerly  had  been  but  obscurely 
answered  unto  her  ambassador  Sir  Henry  Knolls,  at  the  dyet 
imperial  holden  at  Francfort  in  the  year  1562  ;  excusing  himself, 
and  the  rest  of  the  princes  his  confederates,  who  had  but  lately 
chosen  Maximilian  to  be  King  of  the  Romans,  and  coadjutor  to 
the  Emperor  his  father,  seeing  he  had  promised  unto  them  to 
declare  himself  openly  a  protestant,  so  soon  as  he  durst,  after  the 
decease  of  his  old  father  Ferdinand  :  and  in  the  meantime  had 
their  promise  to  keep  correspondence  with  him,  and  to  make  no 
league  with  any  foreign  prince  without  his  consent  and  knowledge. 
And  that  if  they  had  done  otherwise,  he  might  perchance  have 
taken  occasion  thereupon,  to  lay  the  blame  upon  them  in  case  he 
did  not  as  he  had  promised.  For  they  began  to  fear  and  doubt 
of  his  upright  meaning  in  reference  to  religion,  and  yet  thought 
not  fit  upon  their  part  to  give  him  any  ground  to  lay  the  blame 
upon  them.  But  in  case  he  kept  not  his  promise  after  the  decease 
of  Ferdinand,  they  should  then  presently  make  such  alliance  with 
her  as  she  had  required,  which  they  durst  not  for  the  time  discover 
unto  her  ambassador,  requesting  her  Majesty  to  keep  this  secret 
to  herself. 

She  appeared  satisfied  with  this  excuse,  promising  to  discover 
it  to  none  of  her  council  ;  but  she  lamented  that  the  princes  of 
Germany  were  so  slow  and  tedious  in  all  their  deliberations. 
Whereupon  I  began  to  praise  them  for  their  truth,  constancy, 
religion,  ardour  and  quick  execution,  after  they  had  concluded 
any  weighty  matter.  But  I  set  out  most  specially  the  elector 
Palatine's  humanity,  his  treating  of  strangers,  upholding  of 
universities,  and  how  he  was  the  mouth  of  his  confederates  to 
deal  with  all  other  neighbour  princes.  She  answered  that  I  had 
reason  to  speak  so  concerning  him,  for  he  had  written  very  much 
in  my  favour,  regretting  that  the  inclinations  I  had  to  serve  my 
native  Queen,  had  obliged  me  to  leave  him,  though  he  would 
gladly  have  retained  me  with  him  a  longer  space.      I  told  her 

43 


THE  MEMOIRS  OF 


Majesty  what  a  great  trouble  it  was  to  me  to  resolve  to  leave  the 
service  of  so  worthy  a  prince  ;  that  no  consideration  could  have 
engaged  me  thereunto,  other  than  that  duty  I  owed  to  my 
sovereign,  who  had  commanded  me  to  attend  her  affairs.  That 
for  the  better  remembrance  of  him,  I  desired  to  carry  home  with 
me  his  picture,  and  the  pictures  of  all  his  sons  and  daughters.  So 
soon  as  she  heard  me  mention  the  pictures,  she  inquired  if  I  had 
the  picture  of  the  duke  Casimir,  desiring  to  see  it.  And  when  I 
alledged  I  had  left  the  pictures  in  London,  she  being  then  at 
Hampton-Court,  and  that  I  was  ready  to  go  forward  on  my 
journey,  she  said  I  should  not  part  till  she  had  seen  all  the  pictures. 
So  the  next  day  I  delivered  them  all  to  her  Majesty,  and  she  desired 
to  keep  them  all  night,  and  she  called  upon  my  lord  Robert  Dudley 
to  be  judge  of  duke  Casimir's  picture,  and  appointed  me  to  meet 
her  the  next  morning  in  her  garden,  where  she  caused  to  deliver 
them  all  unto  me,  giving  me  thanks  for  the  sight  of  them.  I  again 
offered  unto  her  Majesty  all  the  pictures  so  she  would  permit  me 
to  retain  the  elector's  and  his  lady's  ;  but  she  would  have  none  of 
them.  I  had  also  sure  information,  that  first  and  last  she  despised 
the  said  duke  Casimir.  Therefore  I  did  write  back  from  London 
to  his  father  and  him  in  cypher,  dissuading  them  to  meddle  any 
more  in  that  marriage  :  and  received  great  thanks  afterward  from 
the  said  young  duke,  who  immediately  married  the  elector  of 
Saxony's  eldest  daughter.  Albeit  this  may  appear  something 
from  the  purpose  of  the  Queen  our  sovereign,  yet  it  brings  me 
home  to  her  Majesty  with  some  proposals  of  marriage  to  herself. 
For  the  Queen  of  England  entertained  me  very  familiarly,  shewing 
me  the  sisterly  love  that  was  betwLxt  her  and  the  Queen  our 
sovereign,  how  careful  she  was  of  her  welfare,  how  desirous  to 
see  her  well  settled  in  her  own  country  with  her  subjects,  and  also 
well  married.  That  she  was  resolved  to  propose  two  persons  for 
fit  husbands  unto  her,  whereby  their  amity  might  best  stand  and 
increase,  hoping  that  she  would  not  marry  without  her  advice, 
promising  upon  her  faith  to  write  to  me  so  soon  as  I  was  arrived 
at  Scotland,  with  her  own  hand,  that  I  might  be  a  good  instrument 
to  move  the  Queen  my  mistress  to  accept  either  the  one  or  the 
other.  Now  though  she  forgot  to  write  unto  me  about  it,  yet 
she  sent  instructions  to  Mr.  Randolph,  to  propose  my  lord  Robert 
Dudley  as  a  very  meet  husband  for  our  Queen.  I  supposed  that 
my  lord  Robert,  afterward  earl  of  Leicester,  had  dissuaded  her 
from  employing  me  in  that  matter,  seeing  Mr.  Randolph  was 
there  already,  her  Majesty's  agent. 

Now  the  Queen  my  mistress,  to  keep  promise  and  cor- 
respondence with  the  Queen  of  England,  had  sent  and  advertised 
her  of  the  proposal  made  to  her  of  a  marriage  with  the  archduke 
Charles,  requiring  her  friendly  advice  and  consent  therein. 

The  Queen  of  England  answered  her  by  her  agent  Mr.  Thomas 
Randolph,  as  followeth  ;  for  after  a  little  preface,  he  declares, 
and  gives  in  by  writing,  this  to  be  the  Queen  his  Mistress's  mind  : 


44 


SIR  JAMES  MELVILLE 


"  The  Queen  my  sovereign  (said  he)  hath  not  only  deeply 
'  advised  about  that  proposal  of  marriage  with  your  Majesty, 
'  but  hath  also  thought  it  necessary  by  me  to  shew  you  what  she 
'  thinketh  both  nieet  and  unmeet  to  be  considered,  and  seemingly 
'  to  her  by  way  of  friendship  to  declare,  as  a  dear  sister  who 
'  intends  your  Alajesty's  honour,  and  as  a  loving  friend  who  is 
'  careful  of  your  welfare. 

"  Three  special  things  her  Majesty  thinlis  fit  to  be  considered 
'  in  marriage. 

"  First,  The  mutual  contentment  betwixt  both  parties  in 
'  respect  of  their  private  personages,  so  that  their  love  each 
'  towards  another  may  continue  as  well  before  God  as  man. 

"  Secondly,  That  the  person  may  be  such  as  your  Majesty, 
'  being  a  Queen  of  a  great  realm  and  multitude  of  people,  may  be 
'  sure  of  an  advantageous  alliance,  such  as  cannot  be  prejudical 
'  to  your  countr>''s  interest." 

"  Thirdly,  She  thinks  fit  that  the  choice  be  such,  that  the 
'  amity  which  is  now  so  strict  betwixt  the  Queen's  Majesty  and 
'  your  highness,  not  only  for  your  own  persons,  but  with  both 
'  realms,  may  be  continued,  and  not  dissolved  or  diminished. 
'  Then  he  declares  at  length,  how  that  he  doubts  not  but  that  her 
'  Majesty,  who  was  once  already  married,  will  know  how  con- 
'  siderately  to  ponder  the  match,  that  it  may  be  meet  for  herself 
'  and  her  subjects  :   but  as  to  what  belonged  unto  the  Queen  his 
'  sovereign,  it  merited  to  be  well  considered. 
"  It  is  true  that  the  seeking  out  a  husband  to  your  Majesty  is 
honourable  and  expedient  ;    a  thing  that  her  Majesty  relisheth 
much  in  your  highness,  albeit  hitherto  she  hath  not  found  such 
disposition  in  herself,  remitting  her  heart  and  mind  in  that 
affair  to  be  directed  by  the  Almighty  God. 
"  But  this  herein  her  Majesty  considereth,  that  to  seek  out 
such   a   husband,   as   is   sought   for   by   your   friends,   in   the 
Emperor's   lineage,  will  certainly  procure  at  last  some  mis- 
understanding, and  give  apparent  occasion  of  dissolving  the 
concord  that  is  now  betwixt  the  two  nations,  and  an  interruption 
of  such  a  course,  as  otherwise  might  be  taken  to  further  and 
advance  such  a  title  as  your  highness  hath  to  succeed  to  her 
Majesty,  to  the  crown  of  England,  if  she  should  depart  without 
issue  of  her  body. 

"  Then  he  useth  some  unfit  persuasions  and  menaces, 
threatning  that  some  in  England  were  going  about  with 
practices  to  set  forward  their  pretended  right,  to  her  Majesty's 
prejudice  ;  which  she,  by  her  discreet  behaviour  and  conformity 
to  his  mistress's  pleasure,  might  prevent  ;  by  moving  her 
thereby,  not  only  to  proceed  in  the  inquisition  after  your 
Majesty's  right,  and  with  her  power  to  further  the  same,  but 
also  to  hinder  that  which  appears  to  be  to  the  contrary. 
"  And  now,  if  your  Majesty  would  know  what  kind  of  marriage 
would  best  content  her  and  her  realm  ;    such  a  one  as  would 


45 


THE  MEMOIRS  OF 


'  breed  no  jealousy  nor  trouble  betwixt  your  Majesties  and  your 
'  countries,  as  did  the  marriage  with  the  French  King  ;  but 
'  rather  it  is  to  be  wished,  that  there  might  be  found  out  some 
'  nobleman  of  great  birth  in  England,  who  might  be  agreeable 
'  to  you  ;   with  whom  her  Majesty  would  more  readily  and  more 

*  easily  declare,  that  she  inclines  that  failing  of  children  of  her 

*  own  body,  you  might  succeed  to  her  crown  :  otherwise  I  do 
'  plainly  tell  you,  that  my  sovereign  can  promise  nothing  in  that 
'  matter  tending  to  your  satisfaction." 

These  were  Mr.  Randolph's  first  instructions  and  propositions 
unto  the  Queen,  concerning  her  marriage  with  the  archduke 
Charles.  But  he  had  a  secret  commission  to  my  lord  of  Murray 
and  secretary  Lidington,  to  propose  my  lord  Robert  Dudley  ; 
and  he  desired  me  also  to  set  forward  his  marriage  with  the  Queen, 
as  meetest  of  all  other. 

By  this  kind  of  procedure  it  was  apparent,  that  the  Queen  of 
England  did  not  relish  this  proposal  of  marriage  of  the  archduke 
Charles  to  our  Queen.  She  gave  a  farther  and  more  clear 
demonstration  thereof  a  little  after,  by  sending  the  earl  of  Sussex 
to  the  Emperor's  court,  as  well  to  congratulate  his  coronation,  as 
indirectly  to  draw  on  the  marriage  of  the  archduke  Charles  with 
herself  :  and  she  was  put  in  hope  that  it  would  take  effect.  Yet 
this  design  was  not  so  secretly  managed,  but  our  Queen  was 
thereof  advertised,  by  some  of  her  friends  in  England.  And 
from  hence  arose  inw-ard  griefs  and  grudges  between  the  two 
Queens,  which  within  a  little  time  bursted  forth,  occasion  thereof 
being  given  by  the  Queen  of  England  :  for  in  a  familiar  letter  to 
our  Queen,  she  appeared  therein  to  give  her,  as  formerly,  a 
friendly  advice  ;  which  our  Queen  thought  but  double  dealing, 
remembring  as  well  her  late  dissuading  answer  from  the  marriage 
of  the  archduke  Charles,  as  her  late  practices  in  the  Emperor's 
court.  The  Queen  of  England's  letter  was  written  at  the  desire 
of  some  of  the  house  of  Hamilton  :  for  after  that  Mr.  Randolph 
had  spoken,  as  is  above  mentioned,  against  the  marriage  of  the 
Queen  with  the  archduke  Charles,  and  he  alledged  that  some 
noblemen  in  England  would  be  fitter  matches  for  her  ;  he  pro- 
ceeded so  far  with  my  lord  of  Murray  and  secretary  Lidington, 
as  to  say,  what  would  you  think  of  my  lord  Robert  Dudley  for 
your  Queen  .''  But  finding  small  account  to  be  made  of  him, 
he  advertised  the  Queen  his  mistress  thereof.  Whereupon 
liberty  was  granted  to  Matthew  earl  of  Lenox,  who  dwelt  then 
in  England,  to  go  to  Scotland,  as  desirous  to  see  the  Queen,  and 
take  course  in  some  of  his  own  affairs.  Now  his  eldest  son,  my 
lord  Darnly,  was  a  lusty  young  prince,  and  apparently  was  one  of 
the  two  that  the  Queen  of  England  had  told  me  that  she  had  in 
her  head  to  offer  unto  our  Queen,  as  born  within  the  realm  of 
England.  But  to  return  unto  the  letter  written  by  the  Queen  of 
England  unto  our  Queen  :  she  would  appear  therein  to  be  very 
careful  for  the  Queen  her  sister's  quiet  estate  and  government, 

46 


SIR  JAMES  MELVILLE 


desiring  her  to  take  heed,  that  in  shewing  pleasure  to  the  earl  of 
Lenox,  she  did  not  displease  the  house  of  Hamilton,  seeing  therehy 
trouble  and  strife  might  arise  in  her  country.  Sundry  other  such 
purposes  she  had,  which  at  some  time  would  not  have  been  taken 
in  ill  part  ;  but  now  all  advices  given  by  the  Queen  of  England 
were  misconstructed,  partly  because  of  her  being  instrumental  in 
hindring  the  marriage  with  prince  Charles,  and  partly  because 
David  Riccio,  lately  admitted  to  be  her  French  secretary,  was  not 
very  skilful  in  inditing  French  letters,  which  she  did  write  over 
again  with  her  own  hand.  The  answer  then  that  our  Queen  did 
write  unto  the  said  letter,  declared  some  suspicions  and  anger  to 
have  been  taken  ;  and  these  she  manifested  in  some  harsh  ex- 
pressions, which  were  constructed  by  the  Queen  of  England  as 
a  violation  of  their  former  familiarity  and  sisterly  correspondence, 
which  had  been  ever  kept  up  since  the  Queen's  return  out  of 
France.  Whereupon  ensued  so  great  a  coldness,  that  they  left 
off  for  a  considerable  time  from  writing  each  to  other,  as  they  had 
formerly  done  weekly  by  post.  So  that  the  Queen  resolved  to 
send  me  to  England,  to  renew  their  outward  friendship  ;  for  in 
their  hearts  from  that  time  forth  there  was  nothing  but  jealousies 
and  suspicions.  The  Queen  my  mistress  thought,  that  if  their 
discord  continued,  it  would  cut  off  all  correspondence  between 
her  and  her  friends  in  England  :  and  that  Queen  had  no  inclination 
for  war,  but  b^'  all  means  possible  desired  to  shun  trouble,  or  any 
occasion  of  expences,  the  King  of  Spain  and  she  being  already 
entred  into  controversy  :  for  he  judged  her  a  fomenter  of  the 
troubles  in  Flanders  and  the  Low  Countries  ;  and  not  without 
reason.  For  she  thought  herself  abandoned  by  the  King  of  Spain 
at  the  late  peace  made  at  Cambray  ;  and  her  chief  counsellors 
thought  it  convenient  for  the  interest  of  England,  that  factions 
should  be  nourished  in  France,  Flanders,  Scotland  and  Spain. 

At  my  home-coming  to  Scotland,  I  found  the  Queen's  Majesty 
at  St.  Johnston,  in  the  year  of  God  1564,  the  5th  day  of  May. 
I  was  very  favourably  received  by  the  Queen's  Majesty,  and 
presented  unto  her  letters  from  the  Emperor  Maximilian,  the 
elector  Palatine,  the  duke  of  Lorrain,  and  cardinal  of  Lorrain, 
and  duke  of  Aumale,  all  in  my  favours.  After  that  I  had  at  length 
informed  her  that  I  found  Maximilian  was  against  the  marriage 
of  his  brother  Charles  ;  she  likewise  understanding  the  Queen 
of  England's  part  therein,  as  is  above  specified,  she  altogether 
laid  aside  any  further  thoughts  of  the  marriage  with  the  archduke 
Charles.  And  whereas  she  had  once  resolved  to  have  sent  me  to 
Germany,  she  takes  another  resolution,  intending  that  I  should 
be  sent  to  England  :  though  I  was  not  yet  resolved  in  settling 
myself  in  Scotland,  seeing  small  probability  of  advantage,  and 
greater  appearance  of  troubles  and  disorders,  than  I  could  ever 
imagine  to  find  at  my  home-coming  :  and  I  was  somewhat  loath 
to  lose  the  occasion  and  offers  of  great  preferment  that  had  been 
made  to  me  in  France  and  other  parts.     But  I  found  the  Queen 

47 


THE  MEMOIRS  OF 


my  sovereign  so  urgent,  and  of  herself  well  inclined,  and  endowed 
with  so  many  princely  virtues,  that  I  could  not  find  in  my  heart 
to  leave  her,  requiring  so  earnestly  my  help  and  assistance,  to 
draw  the  hearts  of  her  subjects  to  her,  which  were  alienated  upon 
account  of  difference  in  religion.  I  knew  she  stood  in  need  to 
gain  friends,  and  that  it  was  much  her  interest  to  keep  corres- 
pondence with  the  Queen  of  England  ;  so  that  I  resolved  rather 
to  serve  her  my  native  Queen  for  little  profit,  than  any  other 
prince  in  Europe  for  great  advantage.  I  found  her  naturally 
more  liberal  than  her  revenues  allowed  her  :  for  she  not  only 
settled  upon  me  in  pensions  looo  merks  yearly  out  of  her  revenues 
in  France,  but  she  also  offered  me  her  heritage  of  her  lands  in 
Auchtermuchtie  ;  which  I  refused  to  accept,  alledging  I  could 
better  want  it  than  she  :  though  another  hearing  of  so  liberal 
an  offer,  a  little  after  sought  and  obtained  it. 

Thus  I  was  engaged  to  resolve  to  wait  upon  her  commands, 
and  to  lay  aside  all  hope  of  any  other  preferment  in  France  and 
other  countries,  albeit  for  the  time  I  had  no  heritage  but  my 
service.  So  within  a  few  weeks  I  was  dispatched  to  England, 
with  these  following  instructions  out  of  the  Queen's  own  mouth, 
to  deal  with  the  Queen  of  England,  with  the  Spanish  ambassador, 
and  with  my  lady  Margaret  Douglas,  and  with  sundry  friends  she 
had  in  England  of  different  opinions.  The  general  instructions 
were  written  with  the  secretary  Lidington's  own  hand,  subscribed 
by  her  Majesty  as  follows  : 


Instructions  to  our  familiar  servitor  James  Melville ,  presen  tly  directed 
to  our  dearest  sister  the  Queen  of  England. 

Given  at  Edinburgh,  the  28th  of  September,  1564. 

"  V  N  the  first,  after  that  you  have  presented  our  letters  and  our 
I      "  commendations  in  most  heart^'^  manner,  you  shall  declare 

M.  "  unto  our  good  sister,  that  having  been  upon  my  progress 
"  towards  the  northmost  parts  of  our  realm  this  t^-vo  months, 
"  during  which  time  we  have  had  neither  letter  nor  other  ad- 
"  vertisement  from  our  good  sister  :  therefore,  for  continuation 
"  of  the  mutual  intelligence  betwixt  us,  by  all  good  offices  of 
*'  amity,  v/e  resolved  to  direct  you  towards  her,  to  visit  her  on  our 
"  behalf,  to  inform  her  of  our  health  and  good  estate,  that  at  your 
"  return  you  may  be  able  to  report  the  lil^e  of  her  unto  us,  she 
"  being  the  person  in  the  world  to  whom,  next  ourself,  we  wish 
"  most  good  luck  and  prosperity. 

"  Item,  That  by  letters  of  my  lord  Robert  to  Lidington,  as  also 
"  of  her  secretary  to  our  brother  Murray  and  to  Lidington,  we 
"  have  perceived  that  our  said  good  sister  finds  some  fault  with 
"  our  letters  written  to  her  in  answer  of  her's  in  the  earl  of  Lenox's 
"  matter,  as  if  we  had  taken  her  motion  therein  in  evil  part.     We 

48 


SIR  JAMES  MELVILLE 


"  are  most  sorry  that  our  letters  have  been  so  interpreted  ;  for 
"  of  a  truth  we  had  no  other  meaning  of  her  in  that  matter,  than 
"  that  her  advertisement  came  from  a  friendly  mind,  and  was  both 
"  wordiy  of  thanks,  and  to  be  answered  with  the  lilce  good-will, 
"  as  we  believe  we  did  in  our  letter,  albeit  we  remember  not 
"  presently  die  very  words  or  substance  thereof.  For  we  use 
"  not  to  reserve  any  copy  of  our  familiar  letters  written  with  our 
"  own  hand,  whereof  we  now  repent  because  of  that  letter  :  for 
"  if  we  had  any  copy  thereof,  we  might  now  clear  ourselves  of 
"  that  doubt,  viz.  :  What  words  therein  could  give  her  ground 
"  of  offence.  Therefore  you  shall  pray  her  in  our  name,  to  let 
"  you  see  in  that  letter  v.hat  words  they  are  which  have  offended 
"  her  ;  that  you  thereupon  declaring  my  meaning,  may  put  her 
"  out  of  any  such  suspicion.  It  is  true,  at  the  receipt  of  the  letter, 
"  we  were  somewhat  offended,  and  judged  we  had  good  cause, 
"  seeing  it  appeared  that  our  nobility  were  grieved  v/ith  our 
"  licence  granted  to  the  earl  of  Lenox,  that  his  coming  was  like 
"  to  distuib  the  peace  and  quiet  of  our  realm.  Our  brother  and 
"  Lidington  shew  unto  us,  that  they  perceived  by  their  secretaries 
"  letters,  that  they  were  also  thought  partakers  in  this  matter  ; 
"  and  that  they  mistaking  also  his  coming,  desired  the  stay  thereof 
"  to  be  procured  by  these  indecent  means  :  though  they  protested 
"  the  contrary  unto  us,  and  indeed  we  have  better  proof  of  their 
"  fidelity  toward  us,  than  that  we  can  suspect  any  such  double 
"  dealing  from  their  hands,  they  being  so  far  obliged  to  us,  and  so 
"  much  intrusted  by  us.  We  thought  ourselves  little  indebted 
'■'  to  that  person,  whosoever  he  was,  that  made  such  report  of  our 
"  subjects,  that  they  would  make  known  their  grievances  to  any 
"  other  than  ourselves. 

"  These  and  the  like  considerations  moved  us  to  great  choler, 
"  which  probabh/  might  have  occasioned  us  to  write  the  more 
"  freely,  and  that  we  were  not  curious  to  cover  our  passions, 
"  writing  to  her  with  whom  we  esteemed  ourselves  so  familiar, 
"  that  we  had  ground  to  believe  she  would  take  all  in  good  part 
"  that  proceeded  from  us,  especially  what  was  no  ways  designed 
"  for  her  offence.  Therefore  you  shall  pray  her  to  put  away 
"  all  such  opinions,  if  she  have  conceived  any  :  and  if  there  be 
"  any  word  in  our  letter  having  two  senses,  so  that  any  one  may 
"  be  misconstrued,  and  so  give  to  her  occasion  of  offence  ;  intreat 
"  that  she  will  rather  interpret  the  same  to  the  gentlest  signification, 
"  and  not  take  it  in  the  worst  sense.  And  tlien  I  doubt  not  but 
"  the  whole  letter  shall  appear  to  her  as  it  was  by  us  conceived 
"  and  directed,  that  is,  from  one  dear  friend  to  another. 

"  We  have  further  hereupon  imparted  our  mind  to  you  by 
"  mouth,  which  you  may  enlarge  as  occasion  requires. 

"  You  may  desire  her  to  give  you  an  answer  conform  to  the 
"  substance  of  Lidington's  letters,  v.ritten  to  my  lord  Robert  and 
"  Mr.  Cecil  ;  especially  concerning  the  drawing  on  another 
"  meeting  of  men  of  credit,  fully  instructed  with  both  our  minds, 

49 


THE  MEMOIRS  OF 


and  to  deal  so  plainly  and  frankly  as  all  suspicion  may  have  an 
end. 

"  You  must  also  inform  yourself  diligently  concerning  the 
proceedings  and  intentions  of  this  present  parliament,  of  all 
such  as  can  give  you  any  knowledge  therein  ;  for  what  cause  it 
is  called  ;  what  is  to  be  treated  in  it  ;  how  long  it  will  sit. 
Endeavour  to  inform  yourself,  if  anything  touching  us  will  be 
therein  handled.  You  may  say  to  that  Queen,  as  out  of  your 
own  head,  that  your  mistress  expects  that  she  will  suffer  nothing 
to  be  treated  therein  that  may  directly  or  indirectly  tend  to  our 
prejudice,  we  not  being  by  her  forev/arned  thereof.  She 
knows,  that  as  well  our  self,  as  our  ministers,  whom  we  have 
at  any  time  directed  to  these  parts,  have  ever  depended  upon 
her  only  advice,  and  followed  the  same  in  all  points.  And  seeing 
the  special  matter  moved  in  the  beginning  of  the  last  parliament 
was  the  establishing  of  the  succession,  and  that  it  was  probable 
that  the  subjects  would  yet  be  earnest  to  be  at  a  certainty  in  that 
point  :  and  if  she  omits  so  good  an  occasion  of  doing  something 
for  us,  whereby  the  world  may  understand  that  she  useth  us  and 
esteems  us  as  her  next  cousin  and  only  sister,  the  world  will 
think  that  her  amity  is  not  so  great,  as  we  take  it  to  be.  And 
such  as  envy  our  familiarity,  and  would  have  it  broken,  will 
hence  take  occasion  to  speak,  that  our  friendship  is  rather  in 
words  than  deeds. 

MARIE  R. 


Being  arrived  at  London,  I  lodged  near  the  court  which  was  at 
Westminster.  My  host  immediately  gave  advertisement  of  my 
coming  ;  and  that  same  night  her  Majesty  sent  Mr.  Hatton, 
afterward  governor  of  the  Isle  of  Wight  in  her  name  to  welcome 
me,  and  to  shew  me,  that  the  next  morning  she  would  give  me 
audience  in  her  garden  at  eight  of  the  clock.  She  had  been 
advertised  by  the  earl  of  Bedford  governor  of  Berwick,  that  I 
was  upon  the  way.  That  same  night  I  was  visited  by  Sir  Nicholas 
Throckmorton,  one  of  my  old  and  dearest  friends  by  long 
acquaintance  ;  first  during  his  banishment  in  France,  in  the 
reign  of  Queen  Mary  ;  and  afterward  while  he  was  ambassador 
in  France  for  this  Queen,  where  I  was  for  the  time  pensioner 
to  King  Henry  II.  and  servant  to  the  constable.  This  Sir 
Nicholas  was  my  dear  friend,  and  had  procured  a  pension  for  me 
from  his  mistress,  to  help  to  entertain  me  on  my  travels,  when  I 
had  willingly  banished  my  self  the  court  of  France,  so  long  as 
there  were  civil  wars  between  France  and  Scotland.  He  was  a 
devout  friend  to  the  Queen  my  mistress,  and  to  her  right  and  title 
to  the  succession  to  the  crown  of  England.  From  him  I  had  full 
information  of  affairs,  and  friendly  advice  how  to  proceed  with  the 
Queen,  and  every  courtier  in  particular  :  for  he  was  a  special 
instrument  of  helping  my  lord  of  Murray  and  secretary  Lidington, 

50 


SIR  JAMES  MELVILLE 


to  pack  up  the  first  friendship  betwixt  the  two  Queens  ;  and 
betwixt  the  earl  of  Murray  and  lord  Robert  ;  and  between  the 
two  secretaries.  Albeit  he  had  no  great  kindness  either  for  my 
lord  Robert  or  secretary  Cecil,  yet  he  knew  that  nothing  could  be 
done  without  them.  Among  other  counsels,  he  gave  me  advice 
to  use  great  familiarity  with  the  ambassador  of  Spain,  in  case  I 
found  the  Queen  his  mistress  hard  to  be  dealt  with  ;  alledging 
that  it  would  be  a  great  spur  to  move  the  Queen  of  England,  to 
give  our  Queen  greater,  and  more  speedy  contentment  in  her 
desire,  than  yet  she  had  done. 

The  next  morning  Mr.  Hatton,  and  Mr.  Randolph  late  agent 
for  the  Queen  of  England  in  Scotland,  came  to  my  lodging,  to 
convoy  me  to  her  Majesty,  who  was,  as  they  said,  already  in  the 
garden.  With  them  came  a  servant  of  my  lord  Robert's,  with  a 
horse  and  footmantle  of  velvet  laced  with  gold  for  me  to  ride  upon. 
Which  servant,  with  the  said  horse,  waited  upon  me  all  the  time 
that  I  remained  there.  I  found  her  Majesty  walking  in  an  alley. 
And  after  I  had  kissed  her  hand,  and  presented  my  letter  of 
credence,  I  told  her  Majesty  in  French  the  effect  of  my  commission, 
as  near  to  the  aforesaid  instiuctions  as  I  could  ;  and  sometimes 
being  interrupted  by  her  demands,  I  answered  as  I  judged  most 
pertinent.  The  reason  why  I  spoke  French  was,  that  being  but 
lately  come  home,  I  could  not  speak  my  own  language  so  promptly 
as  was  requisite.  Her  first  demand  was  concerning  the  letter  that 
the  Queen  had  written  to  her  with  such  despiteful  language,  that 
she  thence  conjectured  all  friendship  and  familiarity  to  have  been 
given  up  :  which  had  made  her  resolve  never  to  write  any  more, 
but  another  as  despiteful  which  she  took  out  of  her  pocket  to  give 
me  to  read,  she  having  had  it  already  written  to  shew  it  me.  She 
told  me  she  had  hitherto  delayed  to  send  it,  because  she  thought 
it  too  gentle,  till  she  had  written  another  more  vehement,  for 
answer  to  the  Queen's  angry  bill.  For  my  part,  I  appeared  to 
find  such  hard  interpretation  to  be  made  upon  the  Queen's  loving 
and  frank  dealing  very  strange.  I  told  her  Majesty,  that  my 
mistress  could  not  call  to  mind,  what  words  they  were  which  had 
given  her  such  offence.  Whereupon  she  brought  forth  the 
Queen's  letter,  giving  it  me  to  read.  Which  when  I  had  perused, 
I  said  I  could  find  therein  no  offensive  word,  when  I  considered 
the  familiarity  had  formerly  been  betwixt  them  :  alledging,  that 
albeit  her  Majesty  could  speak  as  good  French  as  any  who  had  not 
been  out  of  the  country,  that  yet  she  was  out  of  use  of  the  French 
court  language,  which  was  frank  and  short,  and  had  frequently 
two  signiifications,  which  familiar  friends  took  always  in  the  best 
part  :  ^intreating  her  Majesty  to  tear  the  angry  letter,  which  she 
thought  to  have  sent  in  answer.  And  in  revenge  of  the  Queen's,^ 
I  protested,  that  I  should  never  let  her  Majesty  know  that  her 
true  plain  meaning  had  been  so  misconstrued.  Having  tossed 
some  words  upon  this  matter,  she  being  desirous  of  an  honest 
colour  or  pretext,  she  appeared  the  more  readily  satisfied  in  that 

51 


rHE  MEMOIRS  OF 


point.  For  the  fear  she  had,  that  friendship  and  correspondence 
should  ahogethcr  break  off,  our  Queen  being  the  first  seeker  to 
renew  and  continue  the  same,  by  sending  me  thither,  thereby- 
evidencing  that  she  did  not  stand  upon  ceremonies  with  her  elder 
sister,  in  my  presence  then  she  did  rent  her  angry  letter,  with 
promise  of  such  friendly  and  frank  dealing  in  times  coming,  as 
all  her  good  sister's  dealings  and  proceedings  should  be  interpreted 
to  the  best. 

Thus  the  old  friendship  being  renewed,  she  enquired  if  the 
Queen  had  sent  any  answer  to  the  proposition  of  marriage  made 
to  her  by  Mr.  Randolph,  I  answered,  as  I  had  been  instructed, 
that  my  mistress  thought  little  or  nothing  thereof,  but  expected 
the  meeting  of  some  commissioners  upon  the  borders,  with  my 
Jord  of  Murray  and  the  secretary  Lidington,  to  confer  and  treat 
upon  all  such  matters  of  greatest  importance,  as  should  be  judged 
to  concern  the  quiet  of  both  the  countries  and  satisfaction  of 
both  their  Majesties  minds.  For  seeing  your  Majesty  cannot 
so  soon  find  the  opportunity  of  meeting  betwixt  your  selves, 
so  much  desired,  which  in  itself  is  not  so  expedient  until 
all  other  jealousies  be  first  removed,  and  all  former  doubts 
cleared  by  your  most  trusty  and  familiar  counsellors,  the  Queen 
my  mistress,  as  I  have  said,  is  minded  to  send  for  her  part  my 
lord  of  Murray  and  the  secretary  Lidington,  and  expects  that 
your  Majesty  will  send  my  lord  of  Bedford  and  my  lord  Robeit 
Dudley.  She  answered,  it  appeared  that  I  made  but  small 
account  of  my  lord  Robert,  seeing  that  I  named  the  earl  of  Bedford 
before  him  :  but  said  that  ere  long  she  would  make  him  a  far 
greater  earl,  and  that  I  should  see  it  done  befoie  my  returning 
home.  For  she  esteemed  him  as  Iier  brother  and  best  friend, 
whom  she  would  have  herself  married,  had  she  ever  minded  to 
have  taken  a  husband.  But  being  determined  to  end  her  life  in 
virginity,  she  wished  that  the  Queen  her  sister  might  marry  him, 
as  meetest  of  all  other  with  whom  she  could  find  in  her  heart  to 
■declare  her  second  person.  For  being  matched  with  him,  it 
would  best  remove  out  of  her  mind  all  fears  and  suspicions,  to  be 
ofi:"ended  by  any  usurpation  before  her  death.  Being  assured  that 
he  was  so  loving  and  trusty,  that  he  would  never  permit  any  such 
thing  to  be  attempted  during  her  time.  And  that  the  Queen  my 
misti-ess  might  have  the  higher  esteem  of  him,  I  was  required 
to  stay  till  I  should  see  him  made  earl  of  Leicester,  and  baron  of 
Denbigh  ;  which  was  done  at  Westminster  v^'ith  great  solemnit>% 
the  Queen  herself  helping  to  put  on  his  ceremonial,  he  sitting 
upon  his  knees  before  her  with  a  great  gravity.  But  she  could 
not  refrain  from  putting  her  hand  in  his  neck,  smilingly  tickling 
him,  the  French  ambassador  and  I  standing  by.  Then  she 
turned,  asking  at  me,  "  How  I  liked  him  ?  "  I  answered,  that  as 
he  was  a  worthy  servant,  so  he  was  happy  who  had  a  princess 
who  could  discern  and  reward  good  service.  Yet,  says  she,  you 
like  better  of  yonder  long  lad,  pointing  towards  my  lord  Darnly, 

53 


SIR  JAMES  MELVILLE 


who  as  nearest  prince  of  the  blood,  did  bear  the  sword  of  honour 
that  day  before  her.  My  answer  was,  that  no  woman  of  spirit 
would  make  choice  of  such  a  man,  who  more  resembled  a  woman 
than  a  man.  For  he  was  handsome,  beardless  and  lady-faced. 
And  I  had  no  will  that  she  should  think  that  I  liked  him,  or  had 
any  eye  or  dealing  that  way.  Albeit  I  had  a  secret  charge  to  deal 
with  my  lady  Lenox,  to  endeavour  to  procure  liberty  for  him  to 
go  to  Scotland  (where  his  father  was  already)  under  the  pretext 
of  seeing  tlie  countn,',  and  conveying  the  earl  his  father  back  again 
to  England.  Now  I  found  the  Queen  of  England  was  determined 
to  treat  with  my  sovereign,  first  concerning  her  marriage  with  the 
earl  of  Leicester,  and  for  that  effect  she  promised  to  send  com- 
missioners unto  the  borders.  In  the  meantime  I  was  very 
favourably  and  familiarly  used.  For  during  nine  days  that  I 
remained  at  the  court,  it  pleased  her  Majesty  to  confer  witli  me 
every  day,  and  sometimes  thrice  in  a  day,  in  the  morning,  after 
dinner  and  after  supper.  Sometimes  she  would  say,  that  seeing 
she  could  not  meet  with  the  Queen  her  good  sister  to  confer  with 
her  familiarly,  that  she  was  resolved  to  open  a  good  part  of  her 
inward  mind  to  me,  that  I  might  shew  it  again  unto  the  Queen. 
She  told  me  she  was  not  so  much  offended  with  the  Queen's 
angry  letter,  as  that  she  seemed  so  far  to  disdain  the  marriage  of 
my  lord  of  Leicester,  which  she  had  caused  Mr.  Randolph  to 
propose  to  her.  I  answered,  that  it  was  probable  he  had  let  fall 
something  thereof  to  my  lord  of  Murray  and  Lidington,  but  that 
he  had  never  proposed  the  matter  directly  to  herself,  and  that  as 
well  her  Majesty,  as  those  who  were  her  most  fam.iliar  counsellors, 
could  conjecture  nothing  thereupon,  but  delays  and  driving  off 
time  concerning  the  declaring  of  her  to  be  second  person,  v.'hich 
would  be  clearly  tried  at  the  meeting  of  the  commissioners  above 
specified.  She  replied,  that  the  trial  and  declaration  thereof 
v.ould  be  hasted  forward  according  to  the  Queen's  good  behaviour, 
and  applying  herself  to  follow  her  pleasure  and  advice  in  her 
marriage.  And  seeing  the  matter  concerning  the  said  declaration 
v.-as  so  weight^%  and  of  so  much  import,  she  had  ordered  some  of 
the  best  lawyers  in  England,  diligently  to  search  out  who  had  the 
best  right  ;  and  she  heartily  wished  it  might  be  found  to  be  her 
dear  sister,  rather  than  any  other.  I  said,  I  was  very  confident 
that  her  Majesty  was  ingenuous  in  that  declaration,  and  that  my 
mistress  expected  no  other  at  her  hand  :  but  I  lamented,  that 
even  the  wisest  princes  did  not  sufficiently  pry  into  the  hidden 
designs  of  their  familiar  counsellors  and  servants,  except  it  were 
such  an  honourable  and  rare  prince  as  Henry  VIIL  her  Majest5''s 
father  of  happy  memory,  who  of  his  own  head  was  determined 
to  declare  his  sister's  son.  King  James  V.  heir  apparent  to  the 
crov/n  of  England,  failing  heirs  to  be  gotten  of  his  own  body, 
while  her  Majesty  was  not  yet  born,  but  only  her  sister  Queen 
Mar>-,  and  that  for  the  earnest  desire  he  had  to  unite  this  whole 
island.     She  said  she  was  glad  he  did  it  not.     I  said,  that  then 

53 


THE  MEMOIRS  OF 


he  had  but  one  daughter,  and  expected  no  more  children,  and  yet 
he  had  not  so  many  suspicions  in  his  head  as  your  Majesty  hath, 
though  you  are  certainly  convinced  you  will  never  have  any 
children,  seeing  your  Majesty  declares  yourself  resolved  to  die  a 
virgin.  Yes,  says  she,  I  am  resolved  never  to  marry,  if  I  be  not 
thereto  necessitated  by  the  Queen  my  sister's  harsh  behaviour 
toward  me.  I  know  the  truth  of  that,  madam,  said  I  ;  you  need 
not  tell  it  me.  Your  Majesty  thinks,  if  you  were  married,  you 
would  be  but  Queen  of  England  ;  and  now  you  are  both  King  and 
Queen.  I  know  your  spirit  cannot  endure  a  commander.  She 
appeared  to  be  so  affectionate  to  the  Queen  her  good  sister,  that 
she  expressed  a  great  desire  to  see  her.  And  because  their  so 
much,  by  her,  desired  meeting  could  not  be  so  hastily  brought  to 
pass,  she  appeared  with  great  delight  to  look  upon  her  Majesty's 
picture.  She  took  me  to  her  bed-chamber,  and  opened  a  little 
cabinet,  wherein  were  divers  little  pictures  wrapt  within  paper, 
and  their  names  written  with  her  own  hand  upon  the  papers. 
Upon  the  first  that  she  took  up  was  written,  "  My  Lord's  pictuie." 
I  held  the  candle,  and  pressed  to  see  that  picture  so  named.  She 
appeared  loath  to  let  me  see  it  ;  yet  my  importunity  prevailed  for  a 
sight  thereof,  and  found  it  to  be  the  earl  of  Leicester's  picture. 
I  desired  that  I  might  have  it  to  carry  home  to  my  Queen  ;  which 
she  refused,  alledging  that  she  had  but  that  one  picture  of  his.  I 
said,  your  Majesty  hath  here  the  original  ;  for  I  perceived  him 
at  the  farthest  part  of  the  chamber,  speaking  with  secretary  Cecil. 
Then  she  took  out  the  Queen's  picture,  and  kissed  it  ;  and  I 
adventured  to  kiss  her  hand,  for  the  great  love  therein  evidenced 
to  my  mistress.  She  shewed  me  also  a  fair  ruby,  as  great  as  a 
tennis-ball.  I  desired  that  she  would  either  send  it,  or  my  lord 
Leicester's  picture,  as  a  token  unto  the  Queen.  She  said,  if  the 
Queen  would  follow  her  counsel,  that  she  would  in  process  of 
time  get  all  she  had  ;  that  in  the  meantime  she  was  resolved  in  a 
token  to  send  her  with  me  a  fair  diamond.  It  was  at  this  time 
late  after  supper  ;  she  appointed  me  to  be  with  her  the  next 
morning  bj-  eight  of  the  clock,  at  which  time  she  used  to  walk 
in  her  garden.  She  enquired  several  things  of  me  relating  to  this 
kingdom,  and  other  countries  wherein  I  had  travelled.  She 
caused  me  to  dine  with  her  dame  of  honour,  my  lady  Strafford 
(an  honourable  and  godly  lady,  who  had  been  at  Geneva  banished 
during  the  reign  of  Queen  Mary)  that  I  might  be  always  near  her, 
that  she  might  confer  with  me.  I  had  formerly  been  acquainted 
with  my  lady  Strafford,  as  she  passed  through  France.  I  had 
good  intelligence  from  her  and  my  lady  Throckmorton.  At 
divers  meetings  we  had  divers  purposes.  The  Queen  my  mistress 
had  instructed  me  to  leave  matters  of  gravity  sometimes,  and  cast 
in  merry  purposes,  lest  otherwise  I  should  be  wearied,  she  being 
well  informed  of  that  Queen's  natural  temper.  Therefore,  in 
declaring  my  observations  of  the  customs  of  Dutchland,  Poland 
and  Italy,  the  busking  of  tlie  women  was  not  forgot,  and  what 

54 


SIR  JAMES  MELVILLE 


countn,'  weed  I  thought  best  becoming  gentlewomen.  The  Queen 
said  she  had  cloaths  of  every  sort  ;  which  every  day  thereafter, 
so  long  as  I  was  there,  she  changed.  One  day  she  had  the  English 
weed,  another  the  French,  and  another  the  Italian,  and  so  forth. 
She  asked  me  which  of  them  became  her  best.  I  answered,  In 
my  judgment,  the  Italian  dress  :  which  answer  I  found  pleased 
her  well  ;  for  she  delighted  to  shew  her  golden  coloured  hair, 
wearing  a  caul  and  bonnet  as  they  do  in  Italy.  Her  hair  was  more 
reddish  than  yellow,  curled  in  appearance  naturally.  She  desired 
to  know  of  me,  what  colour  of  hair  was  reputed  best  ;  and  whether 
my  Queen's  hair  or  her's  was  best  ;  and  which  of  the  two  was 
fairest.  I  answered,  The  fairness  of  them  both  was  not  their 
worst  faults.  But  she  was  earnest  with  me  to  declare  which  of 
them  I  judged  fairest.  I  said.  She  was  the  fairest  Queen  in 
England,  and  mine  the  fairest  Queen  in  Scotland.  Yet  she 
appeared  earnest.  I  answered.  They  were  both  the  fairest  ladies 
in  their  countries  ;  that  her  Majesty  was  whiter,  but  my  Queen 
was  very  lovely.  She  enquired  which  of  them  was  of  highest 
stature.  I  said.  My  Queen.  Then,  saith  she,  she  is  too  high  ; 
for  I  myself  am  neither  too  high  nor  too  low.  Then  she  asked 
what  kind  of  exercises  she  used.  I  answered.  That  when  I 
received  my  dispatch,  the  Queen  was  lately  come  from  the  High- 
land hunting  :  that  when  her  more  serious  affairs  permitted,  she 
was  taken  up  with  reading  of  histories  :  that  sometimes  she 
recreated  herself  in  playing  upon  the  lute  and  virginals.  She 
asked  if  she  played  well.     I  said,  reasonably  for  a  Queen. 

That  same  day  after  dinner  niy  lord  of  Hunsdean  drew  me  up 
to  a  quiet  gallery,  that  I  might  hear  some  musick  (but  he  said  that 
he  durst  not  avow  it)  where  I  might  hear  the  Queen  play  upon 
the  virginals.  After  I  had  hearkned  a  while,  I  took  by  the  tapistry 
that  hung  before  the  door  of  the  chamber,  and  seeing  her  back 
was  toward  the  door,  I  entred  within  the  chamber,  and  stood  a 
pretty  space  hearing  her  play  excellently  well.  But  she  left  off 
immediately,  so  soon  as  she  turned  her  about  and  saw  me.  She 
appeared  to  be  surprised  to  see  me,  and  came  forward,  seeming 
to  strike  me  with  her  hand  ;  alledging  she  used  not  to  play  before 
men,  but  when  she  was  solitary,  to  shun  melancholy.  She  asked 
how  I  came  there.  I  answered.  As  I  was  walking  with  my  lord 
of  Hunsdean,  as  we  passed  by  the  chamber-door,  I  heard  such 
melody  as  ravished  me,  whereby  I  was  drawn  in  ere  I  knew  how  ; 
excusing  my  fault  of  homeliness,  as  being  brought  up  in  the  court 
of  France,  where  such  freedom  was  allowed  ;  declaring  myself 
willing  to  endure  what  kind  of  punishment  her  Majesty  should  be 
pleased  to  inflict  upon  me  for  so  great  an  offence.  Then  she  sat 
down  low  upon  a  cushion,  and  I  upon  my  knees  by  her  ;  but  with 
her  own  hand  she  gave  me  a  cushion,  to  lay  under  my  knee  ; 
which  at  first  I  refused,  but  she  compelled  me  to  take  it.  She 
then  called  for  my  lady  Strafford  out  of  the  next  chamber  ;  for 
the  Queen  was  alone.     She  enquired  whether  my  Queen  or  she 

55 


THE  MEMOIRS  OF 


played  best.  In  that  I  found  myself  obliged  to  give  her  the  praise. 
She  said  my  French  was  good,  and  asked  if  I  could  speak  Italian  ; 
which  she  spoke  reasonably  well.  I  told  her  Majesty  I  had  no 
time  to  learn  the  language  perfectly,  not  having  been  above  t-^'o 
months  in  Italy.  Then  she  spake  to  me  in  Dutch,  which  was  not 
good  ;  and  would  know  what  kind  of  books  I  most  delighted  in, 
whether  theology,  history,  or  love  matters.  I  said,  I  liked  well  of 
all  the  sorts.  Here  I  took  occasion  to  press  earnestly  my  dispatch. 
She  said  I  was  weary  sooner  of  her  company,  than  she  was  of 
mine.  I  told  her  Majesty,  That  though  I  had  no  reason  of  being 
weary,  I  knew  my  mistress  her  affairs  called  me  home  :  yet  I  was 
stayed  two  days  longer,  till  I  might  see  her  dance,  as  I  was  after- 
ward informed.  Which  being  over,  she  enquired  of  me,  whether 
she  or  my  Queen  danced  best.  I  answered.  The  Queen  danced 
not  so  high,  and  disposedlj'  as  she  did.  Then  again  she  wished, 
that  she  might  see  the  Queen  at  some  convenient  place  of  meeting. 
I  offered  to  convey  her  secretly  to  Scotland  by  post,  clothed  like 
a  page  ;  that  under  this  disguise  she  might  see  the  Queen,  as 
James  V.  had  gone  in  disguise  to  France  with  his  own  ambassador, 
to  see  the  duke  of  Vendome's  sister,  who  should  have  been  his 
wife  :  telling  her,  that  her  chamber  might  be  kept  in  her  absence, 
as  though  she  were  sick  :  that  none  needed  to  be  privy  thereto, 
except  my  lady  Strafford,  and  one  of  the  grooms  of  her  chamber. 
She  appeared  to  like  that  kind  of  language,  only  answered  it  with 
a  sigh,  saying,  Alas  I  if  I  might  do  it  thus.  She  used  all  the  means 
she  could  to  oblige  me  to  persuade  the  Queen  of  the  great  love 
she  did  bear  unto  her,  and  that  she  was  fully  minded  to  put  away 
all  jealousies  and  suspicions,  and  in  times  coming  to  entert;?in  a 
stricter  friendship  than  formerly.  She  promised  that  my  dispatch 
should  be  delivered  to  me  very  shortly  at  London,  by  secretary 
Cecil  :  for  now  she  was  at  Hampton-Court,  where  she  gave  me 
my  answer  by  mouth  herself,  and  her  secretary  by  writing. 

The  next  day  my  lord  of  Leicester  desired  me  to  go  down  the 
river  in  his  barge  with  him  to  London.  He  had  in  his  company 
Sir  Henry  Sidney  deputy  of  Ireland.  By  the  way  my  lord  entred 
familiarly  into  discourse  with  me,  alledging  that  he  was  well 
acquainted  with  my  lord  of  Murray,  Lidington,  and  my  brother 
Sir  Robert  ;  and  that  he  was  by  report  so  well  acquainted  with 
me,  that  he  durst,  upon  the  character  he  had  heard  of  me,  desire 
to  know  what  the  Queen  my  mistress  thought  of  him,  and  the 
marriage  that  Mr.  Randolph  had  proposed.  Whereunto  I 
answered  very  coldly,  as  I  had  been  by  my  Queen  commanded. 
Then  he  began  to  purge  himself  of  so  proud  a  pretence,  as  to  marry 
so  great  a  Queen,  declaring  he  did  not  esteem  himself  worthy  to 
wipe  her  shoes  ;  declaring  that  the  invention  of  that  proposition 
of  marriage  proceeded  from  Mr.  Cecil,  his  secret  enemy.  For 
if  I,  says  he,  should  have  appeared  desirous  of  that  marriage,  I 
should  have  offended  both  the  Queens,  and  lost  their  favour.  He 
intreated  me  to  excuse  him  at  her  Majesty's  hands,  and  to  beg, 

S6 


SIR  JAMES  MELVILLE 


\ n  his  name,  that  she  v.ould  not  impute  that  matter  to  him,  but 
to  the  maHce  of  his  enemies. 

Being  landed  at  London,  our  dinner  was  prepared  by  the  earl 
of  Pembroke  ;  who  being  great  master,  yet  humbled  himself  so 
far  as  to  serve  the  said  table,  as  master  of  the  household  himself. 
He  was  a  devout  friend  to  my  Queen's  title  of  succeeding  to  the 
crown  of  England. 

After  dinner,  I  took  leave  of  the  French  ambassador,  and  the 
Spanish,  having  received  divers  advertisements  from  them.  My 
lord  of  Leicester,  beside  what  he  had  spoke  to  me,  did  write  to  my 
lord  of  Murray  to  excuse  him  at  the  Queen's  hands.  The  day 
appointed  I  received  my  dispatch  from  secretary  Cecil,  together 
with  a  letter  of  credit,  and  a  more  ample  declaration  of  the  Queen's 
mind  touching  the  same  answers  she  had  made  me  herself.  He 
gave  me  also  a  letter  to  secretary  Lidington.  For,  as  is  above 
said,  secretary  Cecil  and  Leicester,  my  lord  of  Murray  and  secre- 
tary Lidington  ruled  both  Queens,  and  as  yet  kept  good  cor- 
respondence together.  When  I  took  my  leave,  secretary  Cecil 
conveyed  me  through  the  close  to  the  outer  gate  of  the  palace, 
where  he  himself  put  a  fair  chain  about  my  neck.  My  lady 
Lenox  and  Sir  Nicholas  Throckmorton  sent  many  good  advices  to 
the  Queen,  to  be  followed  according  as  occasion  offered.  My 
lady  Lenox  sent  also  tokens  to  the  Queen,  a  ring  with  a  fair 
diamond  :  she  sent  an  emerald  to  my  lord  her  husband,  who  was 
yet  in  Scotland  ;  a  diamond  to  my  lord  of  Murray,  a  watch  set 
with  diamonds  and  rubies  to  the  secretary  Lidington  ;  a  ring 
with  a  ruby  to  my  brother  Sir  Robert.  For  she  was  still  in  good 
hope,  that  her  son  my  lord  Darnly  would  come  better  speed 
concerning  the  m.arriage  of  our  Queen,  than  the  earl  of  Leicester. 
She  was  a  very  wise  and  discreet  matron,  and  had  many  favourers 
in  England  for  the  time. 

At  my  return,  I  found  the  Queen's  Majesty  still  at  Edinburgh. 
To  whom  I  declared  at  large  my  manner  of  proceeding  with  the 
Queen  of  England,  and  gave  her  Majesty  her  answers  to  the  special 
heads  of  my  instructions  in  writing. 

Her  Majesty  answered  to  the  first,  "  That  whereas  the  Queen 
thought  the  time  very  long  since  she  received  either  word  or 
writ  from  her,  whereby  she  might  understand  of  her  good 
estate,  and  had  sent  me  thither  to  visit  her  in  her  behalf  ;  that 
she  thought  the  time  as  long,  albeit  she  had  conceived  some 
displeasure  concerning  the  angry  letter  :  which  was  the  greater, 
in  respect  it  appeared  that  she  disdained  the  offer  of  the  best 
good  she  had  to  give,  to  wit,  the  man  whom  she  esteemed  as  her 
brother.  And  whereas  she  had  sent  me  to  visit  her,  she  \vas 
more  satisfied  w^ith  my  coming,  than  she  would  have  been  with 
any  other,  being  formerly  of  her  acquaintance,  with  whom  she 
could  the  more  familiarly  declare  her  inward  mind  to  the  Queen 
my  mistress,  seeing  she  could  not  meet  with  herself  so  soon  as 
she  desired  :  as  I  might  declare  how  familiarly  she  had  conferred 

57 


THE  MEMOIRS  OF 


'  with  me,  acquainting  me  with  all  her  inward  griefs  and  desires, 
'  and  how  well  she  was  satisfied,  and  how  willing  to  continue  all 
'  good  offices  of  amity  ;  and  that  she  would  for  that  effect  send 
'  shortly  down  to  the  border  commissioners  who  were  named  by 
'  herself,  to  meet  with  my  lord  of  Murray  and  Lidington. 

"  As  for  the  parliament,  it  was  yet  in  doubt  v/hether  it  held  or 
'  not.  If  it  held,  the  Queen  should  get  no  hurt  in  her  right, 
'  neither  directly  nor  indirectly,  but  she  should  be  forewarned 
'  in  due  time." 

Then  I  shewed  her  Majesty  at  length  of  all  other  purposes  that 
fell  out  occasionally  betwixt  that  Queen  and  me,  together  with  the 
opinions  and  advertisements  of  divers  of  her  friends  in  England  ; 
as  well  catholicks  as  protestants.  I  gave  her,  at  the  desire  of  the 
Spanish  ambassador,  the  intimation  of  his  King's  good-will 
towards  her. 

Her  Majesty  was  very  glad  that  matters  were  brought  again 
to  this  pass  between  her  and  the  Queen  of  England,  having  thereby 
occasion  of  getting  intelligence  from  a  great  number  of  noblemen, 
and  others  her  friends  in  England.  For  she  was  also  afraid, 
that  the  blame  of  the  discord  would  have  been  laid  upon  her,  if 
it  had  continued. 

After  that  her  Majesty  had  at  great  length  understood  all  my 
management  and  proceedings  in  England,  she  enquired  whether 
I  thought  that  Queen  meant  truly  toward  her  inwardly  in  her 
heart,  as  she  appeared  to  do  outwardly  in  her  speech.  I  answered 
freely.  That  in  my  judgment,  there  was  neither  plain  dealing,  nor 
upright  meaning  ;  but  great  dissimulation,  emulation  and  fear, 
lest  her  princely  qualities  should  over  soon  chace  her  from  the 
Kingdom,  as  having  already  hindred  her  marriage  with  the  arch- 
duke Charles  of  x^ustria.  It  appeared  hkewise  to  me,  by  her 
offering  unto  her,  with  great  appearing  earnestness,  my  lord  of 
Leicester,  whom  I  knew  at  that  time  she  could  not  want. 

Shortly  after  my  lords  of  Murray  and  Bedford  met  near  Berwick 
to  treat  concerning  the  marriage  with  Leicester,  with  slenderer 
offers  and  less  effectual  dealing  than  was  expected.  But  the  said 
earl  of  Leicester  had  written  such  discreet  and  Vi^ise  letters  unto 
my  lord  of  Murray  for  his  excuses,  that  the  Queen  appeared  to 
have  so  good  liking  to  him,  as  the  Queen  of  England  began  to 
suspect  that  ihe  said  marriage  might  take  effect.  Her  appre- 
hensions of  this  occasioned  the  lord  Darnly's  getting  more  readily 
licence  to  come  to  Scotland,  in  hope  that  he  being  a  handsome 
lusty  youth,  should  rather  prevail,  being  present,  than  Leicester 
who  was  absent.  Which  licence  was  procured  by  the  means  of 
the  secretary  Cecil,  not  that  he  was  minded  that  any  of  the  mar- 
riages should  take  effect,  but  with  such  shifts  to  hold  the  Queen 
unmarried  so  long  as  he  could.  For  he  persuaded  himself,  that 
my  lord  Darnly  durst  not  proceed  in  the  marriage  without  consent 
of  the  Queen  of  England  first  obtained  to  the  said  marriage,  his 

58 


SIR  JAMES  MELVILLE 


land  lying  in  England,  and  his  mother  remaining  there.  So  that 
he  thought  it  lay  in  the  Queen  his  mistress  her  own  hand,  to  let 
that  marriage  go  forward,  or  to  stay  the  same  at  her  pleasure. 
And  in  case  my  lord  Darnly  should  disobey  the  Queen  of  England's 
command,  to  return  upon  her  call,  he  intended  to  cause  forfault 
him,  whereby  he  should  lose  all  his  lands,  rights  and  titles  that  he 
had  in  England. 

The  Queen's  Majesty-,  as  I  have  said  before  after  her  returning 
out  of  France  to  Scotland,  behaved  herself  so  princely,  honourably 
and  discreetly,  that  her  reputation  spread  itself  in  all  countries. 
She  was  determined,  and  of  herself  inclined  to  continue  so  unto 
the  end  of  her  life,  desiring  to  entertain  none  in  her  company, 
but  such  as  were  of  the  best  conversation,  abhorring  all  vice  and 
vicious  persons.  In  this  her  resolution  she  desired  me  to  assist 
her,  b>  affording  her  my  good  counsel,  what  way  was  most  effectual 
to  ingratiate  herself  with  her  subjects  :  and  in  c>-!se  she  (being  yet 
young)  might  forget  herself  by  any  unseemly  gesture  or  misbe- 
haviour, that  I  would  warn  her  thereof,  by  admonishing  her  to 
forbear,  and  timeously  reform  the  same.  Which  commission  I 
did  at  first  altogether  refuse  to  accept  of,  saying,  That  her  virtuous 
actions,  her  natural  judgment,  and  the  experience  she  had  learned 
in  the  court  of  France,  had  instructed  her  so  well,  and  Qualified 
her  so  abundantly  to  be  an  example  to  all  her  subjects  and  servants 
that  she  needed  none  to  admonish  her.  Put  she  would  not  leave 
it  so,  but  said  she  knew  she  had  committed  divers  errors,  upon 
no  ill  meaning,  only  for  want  of  the  admonition  of  loving  and 
concerned  friends  ;  because  that  the  gieatest  part  of  courtiers 
commonly  flatter  princes,  lo  insinuate  for  their  favour,  and  will 
not  tell  them  the  truth,  fearing  thereby  to  disoblige  them.  There- 
fore she  adjured  and  commanded  me  to  accept  that  charge  ;  which 
I  said  was  a  very  ruinous  commission,  begging  her  Majesty  to 
la>  that  burden  upon  her  brother  my  lord  of  Murray,  and  the 
secretary  Lidington.  She  answered,  she  would  not  take  it  in  so 
good  part  from  them,  as  from  me.  I  said,  I  was  afraid  that 
through  process  of  time  it  would  cause  me  to  lose  her  favour. 
She  said,  it  appeared  I  entertained  an  ill  opinion  of  her  constancy 
and  discretion  ;  which  opinion  she  doubted  not  but  I  would  alter, 
after  I  had  undertaken  and  practised  that  friendly  and  familiar 
charge.  In  the  meantime  she  made  me  pi  ivy  to  all  her  most 
urgent  affairs,  but  chiefly  to  her  dealings  with  any  foreign  nation. 
She  shewed  unto  me  all  her  letters,  those  which  she  received  from 
other  princes.  She  desired  me  to  write  in  her  favour  to  such 
princes  as  I  had  been  acquainted  with,  and  to  such  foreign 
counsellors  as  I  knew  to  be  eminent  men.  In  which  letters  I 
did  not  omit  to  set  out  her  virtues.  I  used  to  shew  to  her  their 
returns,  which  ordinarily  gave  me  an  account  of  the  most  re- 
markable occurrences  of  those  countries,  to  her  Majesty's  great 
contentment  :  for  she  was  of  a  quick  spirit,  curious  to  know  and 
get  intelligence  of  the  state  of  other  princes.     She  was  something 

59 


THE  MEMOIRS  OF 


sad  when  solitary,  and  was  glad  of  the  company  of  such  as  had 
travelled  to  other  kingdoms. 

Now  there  came  here  in  company  with  the  ambassador  of 
Savoy,  one  David  Riccio  of  the  country  of  Piedmont,  who  was  a 
merrj'   fellow,   and   a   good   musician.     Her   Majesty  had   three 
valets  of  her  chamber  who  sung  three  parts,  and  wanted  a  bass  to 
sing  the  fourth  part.     Therefore  they  told  her  Majesty  of  this 
man,  as  one  fit  to  make  the  fourth  in  concert.     Thus  he  was 
drawn  in  to  sing  sometimes  with  the  rest  ;    and  afterward  v/hen 
her  French  secretary  retired  himself  to  France,  this  David  obtained 
the  said  office.     And  as  he  thereby  entred  in  greater  credit,  so 
he  had  not  the  prudence  how  to  manage  the  same  rightly  :    for 
frequently  in  presence  of  the  nobility',  he  would  be  publickly 
speaking  to  her,  even  when  there  was  greatest  conventions  of 
the  states.     Which  made  him   to  be  much  envied  and  hated, 
especially  when  he  became  so  great,  that  he  presented  all  signatures 
to  be  subscribed  by  her  Majesty  :    so  that  some  of  the  nobility 
would  frown  upon  him  ;    others  would  shoulder  and  shoot  him 
by,  when  they  entered  the  Queen's  chamber,  and  found  him 
always  speaking  with  her.     For  those  who  had  great  actions  of 
law,  new  infestments  to  be  taken,  or  who  desired  to  prevail  against 
their  enemies  at  court,  or  in  law  suits  before  the  session,  addressed 
themselves  to  him,  and  depended  upon  him,  whereby  in  short 
time  he  became  very  rich.     Yet  he  wanted  not  his  own  fears, 
therefore  he  lamented  his  estate  to  me,  asking  one  day  my  counsel 
how  to  behave  himself.     I  told  him  that  strangers  were  commonly 
envied,  when  they  meddled  too  much  in  the  affairs  of  other 
countries.     He  said  he  being  secretary  to  her  Majesty  in  the 
French  tongue,  had  occasion  thereby  to  be  frequently  in  her 
Majesty's   company,   as   her   former   secretary   used   to   do.      I 
answered  again,  that  it  was  thought  that  the  greatest  part  of  the 
affairs  of  the  country  passed  through  his   hands,  which   gave 
offence  to  the  nobility.     I  advised  him,  in  their  presence  to  retire 
from  the  Queen,  giving  them  place  :  and  that  he  might  desire  the 
Queen  to  permit  him  to  take  that  way.     I  told  him  for  an  example, 
how  I  had  been  in  so  great  favour  with  the  elector  Palatine,  that 
he  caused  me  to  sit  at  his  own  table,  and  that  he  used  frequently 
to  confer  with  me  in  presence  of  his  whole  court  ;  whereat  divers 
of  them  took  great  indignation  against  me  :   which  so  soon  as  I 
perceived,  I  requested  him  to  permit  me  to  sit  from  his  own  table 
with  the  rest  of  his  gentlemen,  and  no  more  to  confer  with  me 
in  their  presence,  but  to  call  me  by  a  page  to  his  chamber,  when  he 
had  any  service  to  command  me  :    seeing  otherwise  he  would 
prejudge  himself  and  me,  both  by  giving  ground  of  discontent  to 
his  subjects,  in  too  much  noticing  a  stranger,  and  so  expose  me 
to  their  fury.     Which  I  obtained,  and  that  way  my  master  was 
not  hated,  nor  I  any  more  envied.     I  advised  him  to  take  the  like 
course,  if  he  was  resolved  to  act  as  a  wise  man.     Which  counsel 
he  said  he  was  resolved  to  follow  ;  but  afterward  told  me  that  the 

60 


SIR  JAMES  MELVILLE 


Queen  would  not  suffer  him,  but  would  needs  have  him  carry 
himself  as  formerly.  I  answered,  that  I  was  sorry  for  the  incon- 
veniencies  that  might  follow  tliereupon.  And  afterward  finding 
the  envy  against  Riccio  still  to  increase,  and  that  by  his  ruin, 
which  I  did  foresee  to  be  inevitable,  her  Majesty  might  incur 
displeasure,  and  her  affairs  be  prejudged,  seeing  I  clearly  per- 
ceived that  the  extraordinary  favour  she  carried  to  that  man,  did 
much  alienate  the  hearts  of  her  own  subjects  from  her  :  I  re- 
membred  her  Majesty's  command  lately  laid  upon  me,  when 
she  particularly  enjoined  me,  to  forewarn  her  of  any  circumstance 
to  be  observ'cd  in  her  carriage,  which  I  thought  could  tend  to  her 
prejudice.  I  had  before  this  time  taken  some  such  freedom,  in 
desiring  her  to  desist  from  some  things  which  I  knew  were 
dissatisfactory  to  her  subjects  ;  and  upon  my  acquainting  her 
Majesty  therewith,  she  had  been  pleased  to  reform  them.  The 
reflexion  hereupon  encouraged  me  the  more  chearfully,  in  hope 
of  the  like  success,  to  forewarn  her  Majesty  of  the  inconveniencies 
I  did  clearly  foresee  would  inevitably  follow,  if  she  in  time  did 
not  alter  her  carriage  to  Riccio.  Therefore  upon  the  first 
opportunity,  I  took  occasion  to  enter  with  her  Majesty  upon  this 
discourse,  in  most  humble  manner  representing  what  I  did  upon 
rational  considerations  conjecture  would  be  the  consequences 
of  the  too  publick  demonstrations  of  favour  she  gave  to  Riccio 
a  stranger,  and  one  suspected  by  her  subjects  to  be  a  pensioner  of 
the  Pope.  That  though  they  were  resolved  not  to  challenge  her 
Majest\''s  religion,  though  contrary  to  theirs,  allowing  her  liberty 
of  conscience  ;  yet  it  was  not  to  be  supposed,  but  the  too  much 
owning  of  Riccio,  a  known  minion  of  the  Pope,  would  give  ground 
of  suspicion,  that  some  design  to  the  prejudice  of  the  established 
religion  would  be  by  him  contrived.  That  to  prevent  this,  her 
subjects  would  find  themselves  obliged  to  use  all  their  endeavours 
to  ruin  a  man,  and  a  stranger  from  whom  they  could  expect  no 
good  office,  as  being  a  known  enemy  to  their  religion  :  for  the 
nobility  would  certainly  take  it  as  an  high  affront  upon  them,  to 
see  her  so  visibly  more  countenance  a  stranger  than  them  her 
native  subjects.  I  told  her  Majesty  very  freely  what  advice  I 
had  given  to  Riccio.  She  answered  me,  that  he  meddled  no 
further  than  in  her  French  writings  and  affairs,  as  her  other  French 
secretary  had  done  formerly.  And  that  whoever  found  fault 
therewith,  she  would  not  be  so  far  restrained,  but  that  she  might 
dispense  her  favours  to  such  as  she  pleased.  I  remembred  her 
Majesty  what  displeasure  had  been  procured  to  her,  by  the  rash 
misbehaviour  of  a  French  gentleman  called  Chattellier,  who 
transported  to  miscarry  himself  by  her  affability,  had  thereby 
highly  injured  her  Majestj'.  I  told  her  Majestj'  that  a  grave  and 
comely  behavior  toward  strangers,  not  admitting  them  to  too  much 
familiarity,  would  bring  them  to  a  more  circumspect  and  reverend 
carriage.  I  told  her  how  necessary  it  was,  that  she  particularly 
noticed  all  her  actings,  seeing  those  of  her  subjects,  who  were 
F  6i 


THE  MEMOIRS  OF 


not  of  her  religion,  were  easily  alarmed  with  any  thing  which 
could  be  therein  misrepresented.  That  if  their  hearts  were  once 
lost,  there  would  be  great  difficulty  of  regaining  that  place  in 
theit  affections,  which  yet  they  found  her  due  as  their  sovereign 
princess.  She  thanked  me  for  my  continual  care  evidenced  in 
this  free  advice,  and  engaged  to  take  such  order  in  reference 
thereto  as  the  case  required. 

I  have  already  told,  how  that  my  lord  Damly  was  advised  to  ask 
licence  to  come  into  Scotland.  At  his  first  coming  he  found  the 
Queen  at  Wemyss,  making  her  progress  through  Fife.  Her 
Majesty  took  very  well  with  him,  and  said,  that  he  was  the  pro- 
perest  and  best  proportioned  long  man  that  ever  she  had  seen  ; 
for  he  was  of  a  high  stature,  long  and  small,  even  and  straight. 
He  had  been  from  his  youth  well  instructed  in  all  honest  and 
comely  exercises.  After  he  had  haunted  court  some  time,  he 
proposed  marriage  to  her  Majesty,  which  proposal  she  at  first 
appeared  to  disrelish,  as  that  same  day  she  herself  told  me,  and 
that  she  had  refused  a  ring  which  he  then  offered  unto  her.  I 
took  occasion  freely  hereupon  to  speak  in  his  favours,  and  to 
convince  her  Majesty,  that  no  marriage  was  more  her  interest 
than  this,  seeing  it  would  render  her  title  to  the  succession  to  the 
crov/n  of  England  unquestionable.  I  know  not  how  he  came  to 
fall  in  acquaintance  with  Riccio,  but  I  found  he  also  was  his  great 
friend  at  the  Queen's  hand,  so  that  she  took  ay  the  longer  the 
better  liking  of  him,  and  at  length  determined  to  marry  him. 
This  being  made  known  to  the  Queen  of  England,  she  sent  and 
charged  him  to  return .  She  also  sent  her  ambassador  Sir  Nicholas 
Throckmorton  to  Scotland,  to  dissuade  the  Queen  from  marrying 
him  ;  and  in  case  the  Queen  would  not  follow  her  advice,  to 
persuade  the  lords,  and  so  many  as  were  of  the  protestant  religion, 
to  withstand  the  said  marriage,  till  the  said  lord  Darnly  should 
subscribe  a  bond  to  maintain  the  reformed  religion,  which  he 
had  ever  professed  in  England. 

The  Queen,  again  perceiving  the  Queen  of  England's  earnest 
opposition  to  all  the  marriages  that  offered  unto  her,  resolved  to 
delay  no  longer.  But  my  lord  duke  of  Chastelherault,  my  lords 
of  Argile,  Rothes,  Murray,  Glencairn,  and  divers  others  lords 
and  barons  withstood  the  said  marriage  :  who  after  they  had  made 
an  essay  to  take  the  lord  Darnly  in  the  Queen's  company  at  the 
raid  of  Baith,  and  as  they  alledged,  to  have  sent  him  to  England  ; 
failing  in  this  their  enterprize,  they  took  them  to  the  fields,  to  her 
Majesty's  great  dissatisfaction  and  heart-breaking.  Her  Majesty's 
forces  were  sooner  ready  than  theirs,  so  that  she  pursued  them 
here  and  there,  whereby  they  were  so  straitned  that  they  could 
never  have  the  opportunity  of  drawing  together.  And  at  length 
they  were  compelled  to  flee  unto  England  for  refuge,  to  her,  who 
by  her  ambassadors  had  promised  to  hazard  her  crown  in  their 
defence,  in  case  they  were  driven  to  any  strait  because  of  appearing 
against  the   said   marriage  :     though   this   was   expresly   denied 

62 


SIR  JAMES  MELVILLE 


them,  when  coming  to  demand  help.  For  when  they  sent  up 
my  lord  of  Murray  to  that  Queen,  the  rest  abiding  at  Newcastle, 
he  could  obtain  nothing  but  disdain  and  scorn  ;  till  at  length  he 
and  the  abbot  of  Kilwinning,  his  companion  in  that  message, 
were  persuaded  to  come  and  confess  unto  the  Queen  upon  their 
knees,  and  that  in  presence  of  the  ambassadors  of  France  and 
Spain,  that  her  Majesty  had  never  moved  them  to  that  opposition 
and  resistance  against  their  Queen's  marriage.  For  this  she  had 
desired,  to  satisfy  the  said  ambassadors,  who  both  alledged  in 
their  masters  names,  that  she  had  been  the  cause  of  the  said 
rebellion,  and  that  her  only  delight  was  to  stir  up  dissention 
among  her  neighbours.  Yet  by  this  cunning  she  overcame 
them  :  for  she  handled  the  matter  so  subtilly,  and  the  other  two 
so  cowardly,  in  granting  her  desire  contrary  to  what  was  truth, 
being  put  in  hopes  of  relief  if  they  would  so  far  comply  with  what 
was  judged  her  interest  for  the  time,  that  she  triumphed  over  the 
said  ambassadors  for  their  false  alledgeance.  But  unto  my  lord 
of  Murray  and  his  neighbour  she  said.  Now  you  have  told  the 
truth  ;  for  neither  did  I,  nor  any  in  my  name  stir  you  up  against 
your  Queen  :  for  your  abominable  treason  may  serve  for  example 
to  my  own  subjects  to  rebel  against  me.  Therefore  get  you  out 
of  my  presence  ;  you  are  but  unworthy  traitors.  This  was  all  the 
reward  they  procured  at  her  hands  ;  and  had  not  some  of  the 
Protestants  in  her  kingdom,  who  favoured  them  upon  account 
of  their  religion,  interposed  what  they  could  with  her,  they  would 
not  have  been  permitted,  during  their  banishment,  to  have  re- 
mained within  her  dominions  ;  although  a  little  before  she  had 
promised  to  give  them  what  assistance  they  demanded  to  the 
uttermost  of  her  power,  upon  condition  that  they  would  please  her 
so  far,  as  to  sit  down  upon  their  knees  in  presence  of  the  said 
ambassadors,  and  make  the  foresaid  false  confession.  And  as 
for  secret  help,  she  gave  them  none  ;  only  they  obtained  a  small 
contribution  among  some  of  their  own  religion  there,  who  were 
their  friends,  which  was  distributed  among  them  at  Newcastle, 
where  they  remained  comfortless,  and  in  great  trouble. 

The  Queen,  finding  the  shifts  the  court  of  England  made  to 
delay  her  marriage  with  any  msn  proposed,  hasted  forward  her 
marriage  with  my  lord  Darnly  ;  which  was  solemnized  in  the 
palace  of  Holy-rood-house,  within  the  Queen's  chapel,  at  the 
mass  ;  wherein  Riccio  was  no  small  instrument.  Scotland  being 
by  this  time  almost  wholly  of  the  reformed  religion,  took  a  dislike 
of  the  King  because  of  this,  he  having  formerly  professed  the 
reformed  religion  in  England.  Hence  were  occasioned  rumours, 
that  there  was  some  design  on  foot  for  planting  again  in  Scotland 
the  Roman  catholick  religion,  there  being  ground  of  suspicion 
that  Riccio  was  a  pensioner  of  the  Pope's.  And  at  this  same  time 
the  Pope  sent  8000  crowns  in  gold  to  be  delivered  to  our  Queen, 
which  augmented  these  suspicions.  But  the  ship  wherein  the 
said  gold  was,  did  shipwreck  upon  the  coast  of  England,  within 

63 


THE  MEMOIRS  OF 


the  earl  of  Northumberland's  bounds  ;  who  alledged  the  whole 
to  appertain  to  him  by  just  law,  which  he  caused  his  advocate  to 
read  unto  me  (when  I  was  directed  to  him  for  the  demanding 
restitution  of  the  said  sum)  in  the  old  Norman  language  ;  which 
neither  he  nor  I  understood  well,  it  was  so  corrupt.  But  all  my 
intreaties  v/ere  ineffectual,  he  altogether  refusing  to  give  any  part 
thereof  to  the  Queen,  albeit  he  was  himself  a  catholick,  and  other- 
wise professed  secretly  to  be  her  friend. 

After  that  the  Queen's  Majesty  had  married  my  lord  Darnly, 
she  did  hina  great  honour  herself,  and  desired  every  one  who 
expected  her  favour  to  do  the  like,  and  to  wait  upon  him  :  so  that 
for  a  little  time  he  was  well  accompanied  ;  and  such  as  sought 
favour  by  him  sped  best  in  their  suits.  But  because  he  had 
married  without  advice  of  the  Queen  of  England,  my  lady  Lenox 
his  mother  was  committed  to  the  Tower  of  London,  where  she 
was  kept  for  a  long  time. 

All  this  time  I  attended  still  upon  the  Queen,  but  with  less 
familiarity  than  formerly.  And  seeing  my  service  for  the  time 
no  more  needful,  humbly  begged  liberty  of  the  Queen  to  return 
to  France,  and  other  places,  where  I  had  spent  the  greatest  part 
of  my  life.  But  this  her  Majestj*  absolutely  refused  to  grant, 
expressing  some  desire  to  know  what  could  move  me  to  desert 
her  service.  I  said  the  time  was  full  of  suspicions,  and  that  I  was 
confident  I  could  do  her  more  service  abroad  than  at  home,  as 
matters  had  fallen  out.  She  answered,  that  she  knew  I  could 
do  her  more  service  at  home,  than  any  servant  she  had,  if  I  pleased  ; 
but  that  I  had  left  off  using  my  wonted  freedom  with  her,  in  giving 
her  my  opinion  of  her  proceedings.  I  told  her  Majesty,  I  was 
somewhat  apprehensive  that  my  opinions  would  be  unpleasant 
to  her.  But  she  affirmed  the  contrary,  telling  me  that  I  had 
enemies,  who  used  their  endeavours  to  imprint  a  bad  character 
of  me  in  the  King,  as  if  I  had  been  a  favourer  of  the  earl  of  Murray  ; 
which  she  had  put  out  of  the  King's  head,  as  being  better 
acquainted  with  my  nature  and  conditions  ;  saying,  That  she 
knew  well  that  I  had  a  liking  to  the  earl  of  Murray,  but  not  to 
his  actings  of  taking  up  arms  against  her  :  that  she  was  assured 
that  I  loved  her  ten  times  better  than  him.  She  said  moreover, 
that  if  any  did  endeavour  to  misrepresent  her  as  much  to  me,  that 
she  wish'd  I  should  give  them  no  more  credit  against  her,  than  she 
had  done  or  should  do  against  me.  She  advised  me  to  wait 
upon  the  King,  who  was  but  young,  and  give  him  my  best  counsel, 
as  I  had  formerly  done  to  her,  which  might  help  him  to  shun 
many  inconveniencies.  And  she  gave  me  her  hand,  that  she 
would  take  all  in  good  part  whatever  I  did  speak,  as  proceeding 
from  a  loving  and  faithful  servant  ;  desiring  me  also  to  befriend 
Riccio,  who  was  hated  without  a  cause.  The  King  also  told  me 
who  they  were  who  had  spoken  to  him  in  my  prejudice  ;  and  said 
they  were  known  to  be  such  common  liars,  as  their  tongue  was 
no  slander.     By  these  and  such  like  means,  the  Queen's  Majesty 

64 


SIR  JAMES  MELVILLE 


obliged  me  more  and  more  to  be  careful  to  be  serviceable  to  her. 
And  I  judged  myself  engaged,  as  the  greatest  demonstration  I 
could  give  of  my  being  faithful  to  hei,  to  give  her  my  opinion 
what  use  she  might  make  for  her  own  advantage  of  the  harsh 
usage  the  earl  of  Murray  and  his  associates  had  received  in 
England  ;  how  uncourteously  that  Queen  had  used  them  before 
the  French  and  Spanish  ambassadors,  she  having  broken  all  her 
fair  promises  unto  them. 

First  I  told  her  Majest>',  that  ever  since  her  return  to  her  own 
country-,  she  had  been  endeavouring  to  get  her  nobility  and  whole 
subjects  entirely  affected  to  take  part  with  her  in  all  actions  what- 
soever,  and   chiefly  against   England,   in   case   she   might  have 
occasion  of  employing  them  ;    though  she  could  never  hitherto 
obtain  her  desire,  because  of  the  secret  bond  and  promise  was 
made  among  them,  when  the  English  army  was  at  the  siege  of 
Leith,  helping  to  put  the  Frenchmen  out  of  Scotland.     Now, 
said  I,  Madam,  the  occasion  is  offered,  whereby  your  Majesty 
may  bring  your  desired  intention  to  pass,  if  you  could  find  in 
your  heart  either  to  pardon  the  earl  of  Alurray  and  his  associates, 
or  at  least  to  prolong  the  parliament  wherein  they  are    to    be 
forfaulted,  until  your  Majesty  may  duly  advise  and  see,  whether 
it  will  be  more  your  interest  to  forfault  them,  or  give  them  ground 
of  hope  of  obtaining  your  pardon,  according  to  their  carriage  for 
the  future.     To  this  she  answered,  Now,  when  they  could  do  no 
better,  they  sought  her  ;   but  when  she  sought  their  concurrence^ 
such  as  subjects  owe  to  their  native  prince,  they  would  not  hear 
her  :    no  more  would  she  now  notice  their  suits.     I  said,  when- 
soever they  were  to  make  their  suits,  it  should  not  be  by  me  \ 
but  this  I  propose  of  myself  to  your  Majestj',  who  can  chuse  the 
best,  and  leave  the  worst  in  all  accidents  ;    seeing  it  is  no  little 
matter  to  gain  the  whole  hearts  of  all  your  subjects,  and  also  of  a 
good  number  in  England  who  favour  them  and  their  religion,  who 
would  admire  such  princely  virtues.     When  they  should  see  so 
pregnant  a  proof  of  your  Alajesty's  being  able  to  master  your 
own  passions  and  affections,  all  will  then  conclude  that  you  were 
most  worthy  to  reign  over  kingdoms,  finding  you  so  ready  to 
forgive,  and  so  loath  to  use  vengeance,  especially  against  subjects 
already  vanquished,  and  not  worthy  of  your  wrath.      If  your 
Majesty  consider  seriously,  clemency  at  such  a  time  will  be  found 
most  convenient,  and  that  part  of  justice  called   equity  more 
profitable    than    rigour  :     for    extremity    frequently    brings     on 
desperate  enterprizes.     At  this  her  Majesty  entred  into  choler, 
saying,  I  defy  them  ;   what  can  they  do,  or  what  dare  they  do  ? 
Madam,  said  I,  with  your  Majesty's  pardon,  my  proposition  is, 
in  obedience  to  your  own  commandment,  to  shew  you  my  opinion 
at  all  times  for  the  weal  of  your  affairs.     Then  she  said  she  thanked 
me,  granting  that  it  was  a  good  advice,  and  necessary  to  be  done, 
if  she  could  in  so  far  command  herself  ;  but  that  yet  she  could  not 
find  in  her  heart  to  have  to  do  with  any  of  them  upon  divers 

65 


THE  MEMOIRS  OF 


considerations  :  intreating  me  nevertheless  to  continue  giving 
her  my  advice  at  all  occasions  ;  for  albeit  she  did  not  follow  this, 
she  might  perchance  do  better  at  another  time.  I  answered, 
that  it  was  only  the  consideration  of  her  interest  that  made  me 
appear  so  concerned  :  many  noblemen  being  banished,  and  so 
near  as  Newcastle,  having  many  other  noblemen  at  home  of  their 
kindred  and  friends,  so  malecontent  as  I  knew  them  to  be  for  the 
time,  made  me  fear  some  attempt  towards  an  alteration.  For 
I  told  her,  I  had  heard  dark  speeches,  that  we  should  hear  news 
ere  the  parliament  was  ended.  Her  Majesty  answered,  that  she 
likewise  wanted  not  advertisements  of  the  like  rumours  ;  but  that 
our  countrjmien  were  talkative.  I  used  the  same  freedom  with 
Riccio  ;  for  then  he  and  I  were  under  great  friendship.  But 
he  evidenced  a  disdain  at  all  danger,  and  despised  counsel  ;  so 
that  I  was  compelled  to  say,  I  feared  over  late  repentance. 

You  have  heard  that  Sir  Nicholas  Throckmorton  was  one  of 
the  two  English  ambassadors  who  were  sent  hither  to  stay  the 
marriage,  and  to  make  many  promises  in  his  mistress's  name  to 
so  many  as  would  resist  the  same  ;  which  promises  were  after- 
ward denied  by  the  Queen  of  England,  and  by  Mr.  Randolph. 
But  Sir  Nicholas  Throckmorton  stood  neither  in  awe  of  Queen  or 
council,  to  declare  the  verity,  that  he  had  made  such  promises  to 
them  in  her  name  :  whereof  the  counsellors  and  craftiest  courtiers 
thought  strange,  and  were  resolving  to  punish  him  for  avowing 
the  same  promise  to  be  made  in  his  mistress's  name,  had  not  he 
wisely  and  circumspectly  obtained  an  act  of  council  for  his  warrant, 
which  he  offered  to  produce.  And  the  said  Sir  Nicholas  was  so 
angry  that  he  had  been  made  an  instrument  to  deceive  the  Scots 
banished  lords,  that  he  advised  them  to  sue  humbly  for  pardon  at 
their  own  Queen's  hand,  and  to  engage  never  again  to  offend  her, 
for  satisfaction  of  any  prince  alive  :  and  because  as  they  were 
then  stated  they  had  no  interest,  he  penned  a  persuasive  letter, 
and  sent  unto  her  Majesty,  as  followeth  : 


•'  "^  /"OUR  Majesty  hath  in  England  many  friends  of  all  degrees 
\f  "  who  favour  your  title  ;  but  for  divers  respects.  Some 
JL  "  for  very  conscience  sake,  being  persuaded,  that  in  law 
''  your  right  is  best  :  some  for  the  good  opinion  they  have  con- 
"  ceived,  by  the  honourable  report  they  have  heard,  of  your 
"  virtues  and  liberality  ;  the  consideration  whereof  engageth 
"  them  to  esteem  your  Majesty  most  worthy  to  govern  :  some 
"  for  factions,  who  favour  your  religion  :  some  for  the  ill-will 
"  they  bear  to  your  competitor,  seeing  their  own  danger  if  lady 
"  Katharine  should  come  in  that  place. 

"  Of  these  some  are  papists,  some  protestants  ;  and  yet  however 
"  they  differ  among  themselves  in  religion  or  other  particulars, 
"  they  are  both  of  one  mind  for  the  advancement  of  your  title. 
"  Your  Majesty  hath  also  divers  enemies,  for  various  respects, 

66 


SIR  JAMES  MELVILLE 


"  not  unlike  to  the  other,  whose  study  hath  ahvays  been  and  will 
"  be,  unless  they  be  made  friends,  to  hinder  any  thing  that  may 
"  tend  to  your  advantage.  In  one  point  all  concur,  both  friends 
"  and  enemies,  yea  the  whole  people,  that  they  are  most  desirous 
"  to  have  the  succession  of  the  crown  declared  and  assured,  that 
"  they  may  he  at  a  certainty  ;  only  the  Queen  herself  is  of  a 
"  contrary  opinion,  and  would  be  glad  the  matter  should  always 
"  be  in  suspense. 

"  Your  un-friends  have  done  what  they  could,  to  take  the 
"  advantage  of  the  time,  to  your  prejudice  ;  and  for  that  end 
"  pressed  the  holding  of  the  parliament,  which  was  before  con- 
"  tinued  till  October  last  :  knowing  assuredly,  tliat  if  the  parlia- 
"  ment  held,  the  succession  of  the  crown  would  be  called  in 
"  question.  And  they  thought  the  time  served  well  for  their 
"  purpose,  when  there  was  division  and  trouble  in  your  own 
"  realm,  and  no  good  understanding  betwixt  you  and  the  Queen 
"  of  England.  And  her  subjects  your  friends,  for  eschewing  that 
"  inconvenience,  and  winning  of  time  to  give  your  Majesty  place 
"  to  work,  and  remove  all  impediments  so  far  as  wisdom  may, 
"  have  found  the  means  to  drive  it  off  till  the  next  spring.  Now 
"  their  advice  is,  that  in  the  mean  time  your  Majesty  endeavour 
"  by  wisdom  to  assure  yourself  of  the  whole  votes,  or  at  least  of 
"  the  best  and  most  considerable  of  the  parliament,  whenever  the 
"  matter  shall  be  brought  in  question.  Which  may  be  done,  by 
"  retaining  the  hearts  of  those  who  have  gained  already,  recovering 
"  of  those  who  are  brangled,  winning  of  the  neutrals,  and  so  many 
"  of  your  adversaries  as  may  be  gained  :  for  it  is  not  to  be  supposed 
"  that  all  can  be  won,  who  are  already  so  far  addicted  to  the 
"  contrary  faction  ;  but  when  the  cause  of  their  aversion  is 
"  removed,  the  effect  will  cease. 

"  Generally  your  Majesty  will  do  well  to  forbear  any  act  that 
"  will  offend  the  whole  people,  and  use  such  means  as  will  render 
"  you  most  acceptable  to  them.  Strangers  are  universally  sus- 
"  pected  to  the  whole  people  ;  against  which  your  Majesty  hath 
"  in  your  marriage  wisely  provided,  by  abstaining  to  match  with 
"  a  foreign  prince.  So  do  they  advise  your  Majesty  to  abstain 
"  from  any  league  or  confederacy  with  any  foreign  prince  that  may 
"  offend  England,  till  you  have  first  essayed  v.^hat  you  can  purchase 
"  by  the  benevolence  of  the  born  subjects  thereof.  Not  that  they 
"  would  desire  your  Majesty  to  forfeit  your  friendship  with 
"  France  and  Spain  ;  but  rather  that  you  should  wisely  entertain 
"  them  both  to  remain  at  your  devotion,  in  case  afterward  you 
"  have  need  of  their  favour.  Nevertheless  it  is  their  wish,  that 
"  the  same  may  rather  remain  in  general  terms,  as  heretofore, 
"  than  that  you  proceed  to  any  special  act  which  may  offend 
"  England,  which  you  cannot  with  honour  bring  back  again  when 
"  you  would.  As  many  of  our  adversaries  as  are  addicted  to  the 
"  contrary  faction  for  hatred  of  your  religion,  may  be  gained 
"  when  they  see  your  Majesty  continue  in  the  temperance  and 

67 


THE  MEMOIRS  OF 


moderation  you  have  hitherto  used  within  your  own  realm  in 
matters  of  religion,  without  innovation  or  alteration.  As  many 
as  by  misreports  have  been  carried  to  the  contrary  faction, 
.may  by  true  report  be  brought  back  again,  when  they  shall 
(hear  of  your  clemency  used  towards  your  own  subjects  ;  which 
{virtue  in  princes,  of  all  others,  most  allures  the  hearts  of  people 
to  favour  even  their  common  enemies.  As  many  as  can  deal 
warily  and  discreetly  with  your  friends  of  both  the  religions, 
and  are  onlj'  addicted  for  conscience  sake  to  my  lady  Katharine, 
being  persuaded  of  the  preference  of  your  title  in  law,  may  be 
gained  to  your  Majesty  by  contrary  persuasions,  and  by  ad- 
ducing of  such  reasons  and  arguments  as  may  be  alledged  for 
proof  of  your  good  cause,  v/hereof  there  are  abundance  to  be 
had.  Some  your  Majesty  will  find  in  England,  who  will  hazard 
as  far  as  they  dare  to  serve  your  turn  in  this  behalf.  But 
because  it  is  so  dangerous  to  men  to  deal  in,  and  may  endanger 
lives  and  lands  if  they  be  seen  earnest  meddlers,  travelling  in 
that  point  so  as  would  be  necessary,  it  will  require  such  instru- 
ments of  your  own  when  time  comes,  who  may  boldly  speak 
without  danger,  and  with  whom  the  subjects  of  England  dare 
freely  communicate  their  minds,  and  enter  into  conference. 
If  any  be  afraid  of  your  Majesty,  thinking  that  you  have  an  ill 
opinion  of  them,  the  assurance  by  a  trusty  minister  of  your  good- 
will, whom  they  may  credit,  will  quickly  put  them  out  of  doubt, 
and  make  them  favourable  enough.  They  who  are  constantly 
yours,  are  easily  retained  at  your  devotion.  Those  who  here- 
tofore have  born  any  favour,  and  by  the  late  occurrences  are  any 
ways  brangled,  will  be  brought  home  again,  when  they  shall 
see  your  Majesty,  now  when  it  is  fallen  in  your  hands  to  use 
rigour  or  mercy  as  you  please,  rather  incline  to  the  most  plausible 
part,  in  shewing  your  magnanimity*,  when  you  have  brought 
your  subjects  to  submission  and  gentleness,  as  the  good  pastor 
to  reduce  his  sheep  that  were  gone  astray,  home  again  to  the 
fold.  Those  who  are  yet  neutrals,  by  the  same  means  and  true 
information  of  your  interest  by  law,  may  all  be  won  to  your 
side.  This  done,  when  the  matter  comes  in  question,  your 
friends  will  earnestly  press  your  interest  at  this  parliament, 
and  you  will  v/ithout  controversy  bear  it  away. 
"  This  device,  in  so  far  as  concerns  your  reconciliation  with 
your  subjects,  is  not  a  fetch  for  their  favour,  but  is  thought 
expedient  for  your  service  by  many  who  have  no  favour  for 
them,  and  are  different  from  them  in  religion.  For  it  will 
bring  the  Queen  of  England  greatly  to  favour  you,  when  she 
shall  see  such  an  union  in  your  own  kingdom,  of  the  head  and 
whole  members  together.  She  will  not  know  hov,'  to  disturb 
your  Majesty's  estate,  especially  when  the  reconciliation  takes 
effect  in  the  hearts  of  the  subjects  in  England,  who  v.ill  think 
themselves  in  an  hnppy  condition,  if  they  should  come  under  the 
government  of  so  benign  a  princess,  who  can  so  readily  forgive 

68 


SIR  JAMES  MELVILLE 


"  great  offences.  For  albeit  it  must  be  acknowledged,  that  my 
"  lord  of  Murray  hath  by  his  inconsiderate  carriage  given  your 
"  Majesty  great  ground  of  offence,  yet  it  is  hard  to  persuade  the 
"  protestants,  that  your  quarrel  against  him  hath  any  other 
"  foundation,  than  that  he  differs  from  you  in  religion.  Upon 
"  this  ground,  they  find  themselves  engaged  to  espouse  his  quarrel. 
"  If  then  they  perceived  your  Majesty  graciously  inclined  to  take 
"  him  again  into  favour,  and  forgive  what  is  bypast,  the  protestants 
"  in  England  would  doubtless  declare  themselves  more  affectionate 
"  to  your  interest,  when  they  shall  see  more  of  their  own  religion 
"  so  clemently  handled.  And  tliat  your  Majesty  may  have 
"  experience,  that  it  is  your  advancement  your  friends  would  by 
"  this  means  procure,  and  not  the  advantage  of  those  with  whom 
"  your  Majesty  is  offended,  a  middle  way  may  be  followed,  as  is 
"  frequently  used  in  such  like  cases,  where  not  only  the  multitude 
"  is  spared,  but  the  chief  authors  are  preserved.  It  may  please 
"  your  Majesty  to  cause  a  letter  to  be  penn'd  in  good  terms  and 
"  form,  and  publish  the  same  by  proclamation,  declaring  the 
"  just  cause  of  your  anger  against  all  of  them  ;  and  that  yet,  for 
"  declaring  your  own  good  nature  above  their  deservings,  you  are 
"  content  to  remit  the  whole,  except  such  principals  as  you  please 
"  to  reserve  and  except  by  name  from  the  general  pardon  :  and 
"  that  with  whom  you  will  not  take  such  severe  order  as  you  might 
"  m  law,  till  you  have  further  trial  and  experience  of  their 
"  penitence.  The  persons  so  to  be  nominated  and  excepted 
"  shall  depart  out  of  England,  to  what  country  pleaseth  your 
"  Majesty-,  there  to  remain  during  your  pleasure.  In  this  mean 
"  time,  if  your  Majestj'  find  that  this  benign  usage  of  yours  shall 
"  produce  such  fruit  as  is  here  spoken,  your  Majesty  may  furdier 
"  extend  your  favour,  as  you  find  convenient  and  profitable  for 
"  yourself.  For  your  Majesty  hath  still  the  crimes  lying  above 
"  their  heads.  In  the  mean  time,  all  who  favour  them  in  England 
"  will  plead  in  their  cause  with  your  Majestv',  so  far  as  their  power 
"  extends,  as  if  they  were  agents  for  your  Majesty.  They  will 
"  in  no  ways,  if  they  can  eschew  it,  be  again  in  the  Queen  of 
"  England's  debt,  neither  by  obtaining  of  any  favour  at  your  hand 
"  by  her  intervention,  nor  yet  for  any  support  in  the  time  of  their 
"  banishment.  But  rather' it  may  please  your  Majesty,  that  their 
"  charges  be  allowed  them  off  their  own  lands.  By  following 
"  this  advice,  which  in  no  ways  can  be  prejudicial  to  your  Majesty, 
"  but  v.ill  much  conduce  for  your  interest,  you  may  recover  the 
"  greatest  part  of  the  bishops  of  England  ;  many  of  the  greatest 
"  nobility  and  gentlemen,  who  were  yet  neutral." 


Their  names  were  declared  to  her  Majesty  in  cypher,  by  whose 
means  he  alledged  her  Majesty  should  obtain  so  great  an  interest 
in  England,  that  albeit  that  Queen  would  appear  against  her,  she 
needed  not  to  care.     For  in  sending  but  looo  men  of  her  own,  out 

6g 


THE  MEMOIRS  OF 


of  four  parts  of  England  a  sufficient  number  should  join  with 
them,  by  whose  forces,  without  any  strangers,  her  Majesty  should 
obtain  the  thing  which  is  wrongfully  refused  and  retained. 

When  her  Majesty  had  seriously  pondered  this  discourse,  it 
had  great  influence  upon  her,  to  move  her  to  follow  the  desire 
thereof,  as  well  for  the  good  opinion  she  had  of  him  who  sent  it, 
as  being  of  her  own  nature  more  inclined  to  mercy  than  rigour  ; 
she  being  also  wise,  and  being  convinced  that  it  tended  to  the 
advancement  of  her  affairs  in  England.  .She  was  therefore  fully 
resolved  to  have  followed  the  advice  thereof,  and  to  prolong  the 
parliament  which  had  been  called  to  forfault  the  lords  who  had 
fled.  Riccio  appeared  also  to  have  been  gained  for  counselling 
her  hereto.  My  lord  Murray  had  sued  to  him  very  earnestly, 
and  more  humbly  than  could  have  been  believed,  with  the  present 
of  a  fair  diamond  inclosed  within  a  letter,  full  of  repentance  and 
fair  promises,  from  that  time  forth  to  be  his  friend  and  protector. 
Which  the  said  Riccio  granted  to  do  with  the  better  will,  that 
he  perceived  the  King  to  bear  him  little  good  will,  and  to  frown 
upon  him. 

Following  this  advice  and  advertisement  given  by  Sir  Nicholas 
Throckmorton,  thf  Queen's  Majesty  sent  my  brother  Sir  Robert 
Melville,  to  remain  her  ambassador  in  ordinary  at  the  court  of 
England,  to  be  ready  at  all  occasions  in  case  any  thing  were  treated 
at  the  parliament,  concerning  the  succession,  and  to  pursue  the 
design  laid  down  by  Sir  Nicholas  and  her  other  friends  in  England. 
In  this  mean  time,  there  was  a  French  gentleman  sent  home 
here,  called  Monsieur  de  Villamonte,  with  a  commission  to  treat 
with  the  Queen,  that  in  no  ways  she  should  shew  any  favour  to  the 
protestant  banished  lords  ;  because  that  all  catholick  princes 
were  bandied  to  root  them  out  of  all  Europe  :  which  was  a  device 
of  the  cardinal  of  Lorrain,  lately  returned  from  the  council  of 
Trent.  He  had  caused  the  King  of  France  to  write  earnestly  to 
that  effect.  Which  unhappy  message  occasioned  divers  tragical 
accidents.  For  the  Queen  was  loath  to  offend  her  friends  in 
France  of  the  house  of  Guise,  albeit  she  would  have  done  little  at 
that  time  by  her  own  pleasure  to  satisfy  the  King  of  France,  who 
was  but  young  and  only  guided  by  his  mother,  whom  she  had  no 
good  cause  to  like  well  of.  But  Riccio  was  thought  also  not  to 
think  fit  to  offend  so  many  catholick  princes  confederated,  and 
especially  the  Pope  with  whom  he  had  secret  intelligence.  Hereby 
the  Queen  was  again  induced  to  hold  the  parliament  to  forfault 
the  banished  lords,  against  her  own  intention  and  her  former 
deliberation.  Now  there  were  a  number  of  lords  at  home,  friends 
to  the  lords  who  were  banished,  as  the  earl  of  Morton,  the  lord 
Ruthven,  the  lord  Lindsay,  and  divers  other  gentlemen  who 
favoured  them  only  for  their  religion.  Some  of  them  were 
discontent  that  their  friends  should  be  forfaulted  ;  others  had 
special  reasons  inducing  them  to  fear  the  sitting  of  that  parliament. 
Especially  the  earl  of  Morton  and  his  dependers  feared  a  re- 

70 


SIR  JAMES  MELVILLE 


vocation  that  was  alledged  to  be  made  at  the  said  parhament,  to 
bring  back  again  to  the  crown  divers  great  dispositions  given  out 
during  the  Queen's  minorit^',  and  some  benefices  which  had  been 
taken  by  noblemen  at  their  own  hands  during  the  civil  wars  under 
pretext  of  religion.  These  and  such  considerations  moved  them 
to  consult  together  how  to  get  the  parliament  stayed,  and  to  make 
a  change  at  court.  The  earl  of  Morton  had  a  craft^'  head,  and  had 
a  cousin  called  George  Douglas,  the  natural  son  to  the  earl  of 
Angus,  who  was  father  to  dame  Margaret  Douglas  countess  of 
Lenox,  the  King's  mother.  The  said  George  was  continually 
about  the  Iving,  and  bv  his  mother's  and  brother's  means,  put 
in  his  head  such  suspicions  against  Riccio,  that  the  King  was 
prevailed  with  to  give  his  consent  to  his  slaughter.  This  the  lords 
of  Morton,  Lindsay,  Ruthvcn  and  others  had  devised,  to  become 
that  way  masters  of  the  court,  and  so  to  stop  the  parliament. 

The  King  was  yet  very  young,  and  not  well  acquainted  with  the 
nature  of  this  nation.  It  was  supposed  also,  that  the  earl  of  Lenox 
knew  of  the  said  design.  For  he  had  his  chamber  within  the 
palace,  and  so  had  the  earls  of  Athole,  Bothwell  and  Huntly,  who 
escaped  by  leaping  over  a  window  towards  the  little  garden  where 
the  lions  were  lodged.  This  vile  act  was  done  upon  a  Saturday  at 
six  a-clock  at  night,  when  the  Queen  was  at  supper  in  her  closet. 
A  number  of  armed  men  entred  within  the  court,  before  the 
closing  of  the  gates,  and  took  the  keys  from  the  porter.  One 
part  of  them  went  up  through  the  King's  chamber,  conducted 
by  the  lord  Ruthven  and  George  Douglas  ;  the  rest  remained 
without  with  dra^^"n  swords  in  their  hands,  crving,  A  Douglas, 
A  Douglas.  The  King  was  before  gone  up  to  the  Queen,  and  was 
leaning  upon  her  chair,  when  the  lord  Ruthven  entred  with  his 
helmet  upon  his  head,  and  George  Douglas  and  divers  others 
with  them,  so  rudely  and  irreverently,  that  the  table,  candles, 
meat  and  dishes  were  overthrown.  Riccio  took  the  Queen  about 
the  waist,  cr^'ing  for  mercy  ;  but  George  Douglas  plucked  out 
the  King's  dagger  and  struck  Riccio  first  with  it,  leaving  it  sticking 
in  him.  He  making  great  shrieks  and  cries,  was  rudely  snatched 
from  the  Queen,  who  could  not  prevail  either  with  threats  or 
intreaties,  to  save  him.  But  he  was  forcibly  drawn  forth  of  the 
closet  and  slain  in  the  outer  hall,  and  her  Majesty  kept  as  a  captive. 
That  same  night  the  earl  of  Athole,  the  laird  of  TuUibardine,  and 
secretary  Lidington,  and  Sir  James  Balfour  were  permitted  to 
retire  themselves  out  of  the  palace,  and  were  in  great  fear  of  their 
lives.  The  next  morning  being  Sunday,  I  was  let  forth  at  the 
gate,  and  passing  through  the  outer  close,  the  Queen  being  looking 
forth  at  a  window,  cried  unto  me  to  help  her.  I  drew  near,  and 
assured  her  cf  all  the  help  that  lay  in  my  power.  She  desired  me 
with  all  haste  to  go  to  the  provost  of  Edinburgh,  and  desire  him 
to  convene  the  town  to  relieve  her  out  of  these  traitors  hands. 
But  run  fast,  says  she,  for  they  will  stay  you.  As  this  word  was 
spoken,  one  Mr.  Nisbet,  master  of  the  household  to  the  earl  of 

71 


THE  MEMOIRS  OF 


Lenox,  was  sent  with  a  company  to  stay  me.  To  whom  I  gave 
good  words,  saying,  that  I  was  only  going  to  sermon  at  St.  Giles's 
church.  But  I  went  in  haste  to  the  provost,  and  told  him  my 
commission  from  the  Queen.  He  answered.  That  he  had  another 
commandment  from  the  King  ;  but  that  he  should  draw  the 
people  to  the  tolbooth,  and  see  what  they  would  do,  though  he 
expected  no  help  from  their  hands,  because  the  most  part  of  them 
were  so  discontent  with  the  present  government,  that  all  desired 
a  change.  Yet  he  convened  them,  though  in  vain.  Which 
backwardness  of  theirs  I  did  intimate  to  her  Majesty,  by  one  of  her 
ladies,  whom  she  sent  again  unto  me,  to  tell  me  that  she  supposed 
my  lord  of  Murray  and  his  associates,  who  were  yet  banished, 
remaining  at  Newcastle,  would  be  sent  for  by  those  who  were 
about  her  :  willing  me  at  his  coming  to  persuade  him  not  to  join 
with  those  who  had  so  highly  affronted  her,  but  to  hold  himself 
free,  and  be  her  friend  in  this  strait  ;  which  doing  should  be  his 
great  advantage,  and  purchase  her  love  and  favour  for  ever. 
Which  commission  I  did  not  fail  to  execute  at  his  coming  upon 
Mondaj'  ;  but  he  was  more  moved  at  his  meeting  with  her  Majesty, 
who  embraced  and  kissed  him,  alledging  that  if  he  had  been  at 
home,  he  would  not  have  suffered  her  to  have  been  so  un- 
courteously  handled.  Which  so  much  moved  him,  that  the 
tears  run  from  his  eyes.  He  knew  sufficiently  well  that  it  was 
not  for  his  cause,  but  for  their  own  particular  ends,  that  the 
greatest  part  who  had  made  that  enterprize  had  therein  engaged  ; 
which  made  him  the  less  concerned  in  them.  Yet  he  and  his 
company  resolved  to  keep  the  day,  against  which  they  were 
summoned  to  the  parliament. 

In  the  mean  time,  the  King  repented  himself  of  his  accession 
to  that  affair,  whereupon  her  Majesty  took  occasion  to  persuade 
him  to  abandon  those  lords,  who  had  committed  so  odious  a 
crime,  as  to  hazard  her  life,  together  with  his  child  which  was  in 
her  belly.  That  nevertheless  she  was  resolved  to  forgive  them, 
and  give  them  what  security  thereupon  they  would  demand. 
The  lords  seeing  the  King  drawn  from  them,  and  my  lord  of 
Murray  not  so  frank  for  them  as  they  expected,  were  necessitated 
to  do  the  next  best,  and  consented  that  a  pacification  should  be 
penned,  which  was  divers  times  written  over,  to  put  in  and  out 
certain  heads  and  clauses,  to  drive  time  until  the  writing  might 
appear  plausible.  Her  Majesty  caused  the  King  to  advise  them, 
to  discharge  the  guard  that  kept  her,  that  so  the  security  might  be 
subscribed  she  being  at  liberty  ;  seeing  otherwise  it  would  not 
avail  them  in  law,  if  there  were  the  least  appearance  of  restraint 
upon  her,  during  the  time  thereof.  So  upon  Tuesday  they  went 
all  to  their  rest  ;  but  the  Queen,  King,  Traquair  and  Arthur 
Areskine  master  of  the  horse  for  the  time,  went  out  of  Holy- 
rood-house  at  midnight  toward  the  castle  of  Dunbar,  and  left 
word  with  one  of  her  ladies  to  me,  that  I  should  be  earnest  to  keep 
the  earl  of  Murray  from  joining  with  the  other  lords.     Who  the 

72 


SIR  JAMES  MELVILLE 


next  morning  found  themselves  greatly  disappointed,  being  left 
without  any  appearance  of  a  pacification.  In  the  mean  time,  I 
used  my  endeavours  very  effectually  to  keep  my  lord  Murray 
from  joining  with  the  late  offenders.  I  engaged  to  him,  that  in  so 
doing,  I  should  procure  a  pardon  to  him  and  all  his  followers. 
They  on  this  manner  being  destitute  of  all  assisters,  were  compelled 
to  flee  unto  England  to  Newcastle,  where  in  a  manner  they  might 
find  the  other  lords  nests  yet  warm. 

A  few  days  before  my  lord  duke,  my  lords  of  Argile,  Glencaim 
and  Rothes  had  obtained  their  pardons  :  for  they  were  divided 
during  their  banishment,  and  her  Majesty-  found  it  not  her  interest 
to  have  so  many  lords  against  her.  She  had  also  now  again 
endeavoured  to  draw  the  earl  of  Murray  from  the  earl  of  Morton 
and  his  accomplices,  because  he  had  for  the  time  a  great  friendship 
and  many  dependers,  that  she  might  be  the  more  easily  revenged 
upon  that  most  detestable  deed  of  murdering  her  servant  in  her 
presence  ;  for  she  being  big  with  child,  it  appeared  to  be  done 
to  destroy  both  her  and  her  child.  For  they  might  have  killed 
the  said  Riccio  in  any  other  part,  at  any  time  they  pleased.  My 
lord  Murray  and  his  dependents  desired  me  to  carry  their  humble 
thanks  unto  her  Majesty,  and  to  signify  unto  her,  how  willingly 
they  acquiesced  to  her  Majesty's  desire,  and  how  they  had  dis- 
charged themselves  to  such  as  had  committed  that  vile  act  :  and 
that  they  promised  her  Majesty  never  any  more  to  have  to  do  with 
them,  or  intercede  for  them. 

I  rencountred  her  IVIajesty  coming  from  Dunbar  to  Haddington, 
and  was  veiy  favourably  received  with  great  thanks  for  my  care 
of  her  honour  and  welfare.  That  night  in  Haddington  she 
subscribed  divers  remissions  for  my  lord  Murray  and  his  de- 
penders, lamenting  unto  me  the  King's  folly,  ingratitude  and 
misbehaviour.  I  excused  the  same  the  best  I  could,  imputing 
it  to  his  >outh,  which  occasioned  him  easily  to  be  led  away  by 
pernicious  counsel,  laying  the  blame  upon  George  Douglas  and 
other  bad  counsellors  ;  praying  her  Majesty  for  many  necessary 
considerations,  to  remove  out  of  her  mind  any  prejudice  against 
him,  seeing  that  she  had  chosen  him  herself  against  the  opinion 
of  many  of  her  subjects.  But  I  could  perceive  nothing  from  that 
day  forth,  but  great  grudges  that  she  entertained  in  her  heart. 
That  night  in  Haddington,  the  King  enquired  of  me,  if  the  lord  of 
Murray  had  written  to  him.  I  answered.  That  his  letter  to  the 
Queen  was  written  in  haste,  and  that  he  esteemed  the  Queen  and 
him  but  one.  He  said,  he  might  have  also  written  to  me.  Then 
he  enquired  what  was  become  of  Morton,  Ruthven  and  the  rest 
of  that  company.  I  told  him  I  believed  they  were  fled,  but  I 
knew  not  whither.  As  they  have  brewed,  says  he,  so  let  them 
drink.  It  appeared  to  me  that  he  was  troubled  he  had  deserted 
them,  finding  the  Queen's  favour  but  cold.  The  next  day  they 
came  to  Edinburgh  and  lodged  within  the  castle,  where  some  were 
apprehended  and  executed,  who  had  been  in  the  court  of  the 

73 


THE  MEMOIRS  OF 


palace,  and  had  kept  the  gates  that  night  wherein  Riccio  was 
slain. 

Her  Majesty  was  now  far  gone  with  child,  and  went  to  Stirling 
intending  to  ly  in  there.  Thither  the  King  followed  her,  and  from 
that  to  Alloa.  At  length  she  came  back  to  the  castle  of  Edinburgh. 
It  was  thought  that  she  fled  from  the  King's  company.  I  travelled 
earnestly  to  help  matters  betwixt  them,  and  was  therein  so  im- 
portunate, that  I  was  thought  troublesome  ;  so  that  her  Majesty 
desired  my  lord  of  Murray  to  reprove  me,  and  charge  me  not  to  be 
any  more  familiar  with  the  King  :  who  went  up  and  down  all 
alone,  seeing  few  durst  bear  him  company.  He  was  misliked 
by  the  Queen,  and  by  all  such  as  secretly  favoured  the  late  banished 
lords  ;  so  that  it  was  a  great  pity  to  see  that  good  young  prince 
cast  off,  who  failed  rather  for  want  of  good  counsel  and  experience, 
than  from  any  bad  inclinations.  It  appeared  to  be  fatal  to  him, 
to  like  better  of  flatterers  and  ill  company  than  plain  speakers  and 
good  men  :  which  hath  been  the  wreck  of  many  princes,  who  by 
frequenting  good   company  would   have  proved  gallant  men. 

About  this  time  the  Queen  of  England  was  taken  with  a  great 
fever,  that  none  believed  she  could  live  :  all  that  kingdom  was 
thereby  in  great  perplexity.  But  a  strange  thing  is  to  be  marked, 
that  two  contrary  factions  there,  had  both  determined,  unknovv^n 
to  other,  to  send  for  our  Queen,  and  set  the  crown  of  England 
upon  her  head.  My  brother  Sir  Robert  Melville  was  then 
ambassador  there  resident,  and  I  served  in  place  of  secretary 
here  at  home,  because  secretary  Lidington  was  absent  under  some 
suspicion.  He  sent  home  continual  advertisements  how  to 
proceed,  and  I  again  returned  the  answers  at  her  Alajesty's 
direction. 

Now  began  the  earl  of  Bothwell  to  be  in  great  favour,  to  the 
great  dissatisfaction  of  many.  He  and  the  earl  of  Huntly  and  the 
bishop  of  Ross,  envied  the  favour  that  the  Queen  shewed  unto  the 
earl  of  Murray  ;  for  they  were  upon  contrary  courses.  The 
Queen  on  the  other  hand  knew  how  generally  he  was  well  liked 
of  both  in  England  and  Scotland,  and  that  she  Vvould  be  the  better 
liked  of  in  both  kingdoms  that  she  shewed  favour  to  him.  And 
as  she  resolved  to  follow  the  formicr  advice  and  information  sent 
her  by  Sir  Nicholas  Throckmorton,  so  she  forgat  not  the  late 
help  he  had  made  her  at  his  home-coming.  These  two  earls, 
with  the  foresaid  bishop,  took  occasion,  when  the  time  of  her 
Majesty's  delivery  drew  near,  to  persuade  her  to  imprison  my 
lord  of  Murray,  to  remain  no  longer  than  she  should  be  delivered  ; 
alledging  that  they  were  assuredly  advertised,  that  he  and  his 
dependers  were  resolved  to  bring  in  the  banished  lords,  even  at 
the  very  time  of  her  child-bearing  :  for  they  thought,  if  once  he 
were  warded,  they  should  find  devices  enough  to  cause  him  be 
kept  and  disgraced,  especially  when  he  should  be  absent,  and  not 
have  opportunity  of  answering  and  resisting  their  calumnies. 
Whereof  her  Majesty  gave  me  an  account,  desiring  me  to  mind  her 

74 


SIR  JAMES  MELVILLE 


of  their  secret  designs  against  Murray,  without  any  just  cause, 
flowing  only  from  their  own  hatred,  who   had  devised    his  ruin. 

The  earl  of  Morton  was  now  in  a  hard  condition.  Though  many 
of  the  barons  of  Lothian  were  his  friends,  they  could  be  little 
stedable  to  him  ;  among  the  rest,  the  laird  of  Elphinston,  my 
brother-in-law,  whose  mother  was  a  Douglas  of  the  house  of 
Whittengham.  Upon  account  of  this  friendship,  the  earl  of 
IMorton  caused  to  write  unto  my  sister  the  lady  Elphinston, 
desiring  her  to  persuade  me  to  write  in  his  favours  to  the  elector 
Palatine,  and  other  princes  of  my  acquaintance  in  Germany,  to 
suffer  him  to  live  in  their  country.  For  my  brother,  by  her 
Majest>''s  direction,  pressed  the  Queen  of  England  to  put  them 
forth  of  her  kingdom  :  and  they  durst  not  go  to  France,  where  the 
Queen  had  so  many  friends.  This  I  did  shew  unto  her  Majesty', 
that  she  might  be  the  more  confirmed  how  groundless  that  report 
was,  made  by  the  aforesaid  lords  against  Muiiay  ;  wherewith 
she  appeared  well  satisfied,  resolving  to  continue  her  kindness  for 
my  lord  Murray  ;  but  that  withal  she  charged  me  not  to  write 
in  favours  of  Morton. 

In  the  mean  time,  Mr.  Henry  Killegrew  was  sent  hither 
ambassador  from  the  Queen  of  England,  who  was  in  great  sus- 
picion of  her  estate,  finding  so  many  of  her  subjects  favourers 
of  our  Queen.  The  said  ambassador  complained  against  one  Air. 
Ruxbie,  who  was  harboured  in  Scotland,  being  a  rebel  and  a 
papist  ;  declaring  how  that  the  Queen  his  mistress  had  com- 
manded Morton  and  his  complices  forth  of  her  country  :  which 
was  done  by  open  proclamation,  to  please  the  Queen  and  her 
ambassador,  who  cried  out  continually  for  her  suffering  them 
to  abide  so  long  in  England  ;  yet,  as  we  afterward  understood, 
they  were  secretly  overlook'd,  upon  condition  that  they  would 
keep  themselves  quiet.  Mr.  Killegrew  alledged  also,  that  the 
Queen's  Majesty'  had  been  practising  with  Oneel  in  Ireland,  who 
had  his  ambassador  presently  in  Edinburgh,  in  company  of  the 
earl  of  Argile.  And,  thirdly,  he  complained  of  some  disorders 
upon  the  borders  made  by  Scottishmen.  But  the  principal 
pretext  of  his  commission  was,  to  comfort  the  Queen  over  her 
late  troubles,  to  congratulate  her  freedom,  and  good  success  over 
her  wicked  and  rebellious  subjects. 

It  may  appear  suflliciently  by  that  Queen's  former  proceedings, 
that  all  the  sisterly  familiarity  was  ceased,  and  in  place  thereof 
nothing  but  jealousies,  suspicions  and  hatred  :  and  yet  they  kept 
an  outward  correspondence,  for  keeping  up  neighbourhood 
and  intelligence.  The  Scots  ambassador  for  the  time  in  England 
had  so  good  hap,  that  his  credit  was  great  ;  for  he  was  esteemed 
sure  and  secret  :  which  caused  a  great  number  of  the  nobility, 
protestants  and  papists,  to  communicate  their  inward  minds 
and  secretest  intentions  unto  him.  Mr.  Randolph  had  not  the 
like  credit  in  Scotland,  but  onlv  with  some  of  the  simplest  sort 
of  the  ministers.     For  this  Ruxbie  was  sent  in  hither  to  appear 


75 


THE  MEMOIRS  OF 


to  be  a  zealous  favourer  of  her  Majesty's  right  and  title  to  the 
crown  of  England.  He  was  to  endeavour  to  speak  with  the 
Queen,  and  to  take  an  occasion  of  informing  her  Majesty  of  the 
great  friendship  diveis  of  the  catholicks  had  for  her,  who  duist 
not  deal  with  the  Scots  ambassador,  being  a  protestant  ;  but  that 
he  would  deal  himself  betwixt  her  Majesty  and  them.  All  this 
was  to  essay  what  he  could  draw  out  of  her  Majesty,  to  give 
advertisement  thereof  to  secretary  Cecil.  He  addressed  himself 
unto  the  Queen's  Majesty  by  the  bishop  of  Ross,  who  was  a 
catholick  ;  the  said  bishop  desiring  her  Majesty  to  be  secret. 
What  he  learned  for  the  time,  I  cannot  tell  ;  but  he  did  write 
sundry  Intelligences  unto  the  secretary  Cecil,  which  did  prejudice. 
But  this  fine  contrivance  was  not  so  secretly  kept  but  my  brother 
Sir  Robert  had  knowledge  thereof,  and  also  of  a  letter  that  the 
secretary  Cecil  wrote  again  unto  Scotland  to  the  said  Mr.  Ruxbie, 
promising  to  see  him  rewarded,  and  desiring  him  to  continue  in 
his  diligence.  Of  all  which  my  brother,  by  his  good  intelligence, 
was  so  well  advertised,  that  in  due  time  he  gave  her  Majesty  and 
me  information  thereof.  He  gave  his  advice,  how  to  carry  for 
the  future  in  that  affair  :  So  that  when  Mr.  Killegrew  made  his 
complaint  upon  the  receipt  of  Mr.  Ruxbie,  her  Majesty  incon- 
tinently caused  him  to  be  apprehended,  and  all  his  cyphers  and 
writings  ;  among  the  which  was  found  the  letter  written  by 
secretary'  Cecil  above  mentioned.  Ruxbie  finding  himself 
discovered,  fell  immediately  upon  his  knees,  granting  himself 
worthy  of  a  thousand  deaths,  humbly  craving  pardon.  Her 
Majesty  caused  him  to  be  so  secretly  and  straitly  kept,  that  the 
English  ambassador  could  get  no  intelligence  for  what  cause  he 
was  apprehended,  until  that  the  Queen  did  shew  him  herself, 
that  upon  his  complaint,  to  satisfy  the  Queen  her  good  sister,  she 
had  caused  to  apprehend  the  said  Ruxbie,  who  should  be  delivered 
so  soon  after  his  return  as  it  should  please  her  sister  to  send  for  him. 

But  as  this  Mr.  Ruxbie  was  secured,  so  was  the  complaint 
made  against  him  kept  secret.  For  her  Majesty  was  advised  to 
appear  altogether  ignoiant  of  any  of  his  practices  against  her 
devised  by  secretary  Cecil,  it  not  being  thought  her  interest  to 
put  that  shame  upon  one  who  professed  so  much  to  be  her  friend. 
Nor  was  it  time  to  cast  off  intelligence,  so  long  as  it  was  found 
profitable  to  entertain  it,  as  it  would  have  indeed  proved,  had  not 
such  unhappy  chances  fallen  out  shortly  after. 

The  Queen's  Majesty's  reckoning  being  near  run  out,  she  caused 
me  to  dispatch  for  England,  to  be  in  readiness  to  give  an  account 
of  the  news  of  her  delivery  to  that  queen  ;  leaving  a  blank  in  her 
letter,  to  be  filled  up  either  with  a  son  or  a  daughter,  as  it  should 
please  God  to  grant  unto  her  :  and  to  require  the  Queen  of 
England  to  send  hither,  in  her  name,  such  of  hers  as  she  knew  to 
be  best  instruments  for  entertaining  good  love  and  friendship 
betwixt  them,  to  be  gossips  ;  as  also  to  satisfy  her  concerning  the 
most  part  of  Killegrew's  demands. 

76 


SIR  JAMES  MELVILLE 


All  the  while  I  lay  within  tlie  castle  of  Edinburgh,  praying  night 
and  day  for  her  I\Iajest>-'s  good  and  happy  delivery  of  a  fair  son. 
This  prayer  being  granted,  I  was  the  first  who  was  thereof  ad- 
vertised, by  the  lady  Boin,  in  her  Majesty's  name,"  to  part  with 
diligence  the   19  of  June   1566,  betwixt  ten  and  eleven  in  the 
morning.     By  twelve  of  the  clock  I   took  horse,  and  was  that 
night  at  Berwick.     The  fourth  day  after  I  was  at  London  ;    and 
did  first  meet  with  my  brother  Sir  Robert,  who  that  same  night 
sent  and  advertised  secretary  Cecil  of  my  arrival,  and  of  the  birth 
of  the  prince  ;    desiring  him  to  keep  it  quiet  till  my  coming  to 
court,  to  shew  it  myself  unto  her  Majesty,  who  was  for  the  time  at 
Greenwich,  where  her  Majesty  was  in  great  inirth,  dancing  after 
supper.     But  so  soon  as  the  secretary  Cecil  whispered  in  her  ear 
the  news  of  the  prince's  birth,  all  her  mirth  was  laid  aside  for  that 
night  ;    all  present  marvelling  whence  proceeded  such  a  change  ; 
for  the  Queen  did  sit  down,  putting  her  hand  under  her  cheek, 
bursting  out  to  some  of  her  ladies,  that  the  Queen  of  Scots  was 
mother  of  a  fair  son,  while  she  was  but  a  barren  stock.     The  next 
morning  was  appointed  for  me  to  get  audience.     At  what  time  my 
brother  and  I  went  by  water  to  Greenwich,  and  were  met  by  some 
friends  who  told  us  how  sorrowful  her  Majesty  was  at  my  news  ; 
but  that  she  had  been  advised  to  shew  a  glad  and  chearful  coun- 
tenance :    which  she  did,  in  her  best  apparel,  saying,  that  the 
joyful  news  of  the  Queen  her  sister's  delivery  of  a  fair  son,  which 
I  had  sent  her  by  secretary  Cecil,  had  recovered  her  out  of  a  heavy 
sickness  which  she  had  lyen  under  for  fifteen  days.     Therefore 
she  welcomed  me  with  a  merry  volt,  and  thanked  me  for  the 
diligence  I  had  used  in  hasting  to  give  her  that  welcome  intel- 
ligence.    All  this  she  said,  before  I  had  delivered  unto  her  my 
letter  of  credence.     After  that  she  had  read  it,  I  declared  how  that 
the  Queen  had  hasted  me  towards  her  Majesty,  as  one  whom  she 
knew  of  all  her  friends  would  be  most  joyful  of  the  glad  news  of  her 
delivery,  albeit  dear  bought  with  the  peril  of  her  life,  she  being  so 
sore  handled  that  she  wished  she  had  never  been  married.     This 
I  said  by  the  way,  to  give  her  a  little  scar  from  marriage  :   for  so 
my  brother  had  counselled  me,  because  sometimes  she  boasted 
to  marry  the  archduke  Charles  of  Austria,  when  any  inan  pressed 
her  to  declare  a  second  person.     Then  I  requested  her  Majesty 
to  be  a  gossip  to  the  Queen  ;   to  which  she  gladly  condescended. 
Your  Majesty,  said  I,  will  now  have  a  fair  occasion  to  see  the 
Queen,  whereof  I  have  heard  your  Majesty  so  oft  desirous.  Where- 
at she  smiled,  saying  she  wished  that  her  estate  and  affairs  might 
permit  her.     In  the  mean  time  she  promised  to  send  both  honour- 
able lords  and  ladies  to  supply  her  room.     Then   I   gave  her 
Majesty,    in   my    Queen's    name,    most   hearty    thanks,    for   her 
friendly  visiting  and  comforting  her  by  Mr.  Henry  Killegrew. 
She  enquired  if  I  had  left  him  in  Scotland,  and  what  was  the  cause 
of  his  long  stay.     I  answered.  That  the  Queen  took  her  chamber 
shortly  after  his  arrival,  which  was  the  chief  cause  of  his  delay. 

G  77 


"THE  MEMOIRS  OF 


But  I  had  in  commission  to  tell  her  Majesty  something  there- 
about, to  satisfy  her  mind  in  the  mean  time,  and  to  thank  her 
Majesty  for  the  putting  away  of  the  Scots  rebels  out  of  her  country, 
albeit  there  were  some  reports  that  they  were  yet  secretly  enter- 
tained by  some  of  her  subjects,  though  I  hardly  believed  that  any 
of  her  subjects  durst  be  so  bold,  or  so  disobedient.  She  affirmed 
they  were  out  of  her  dominions  ;  and  if  it  might  be  otherwise 
tried  out,  it  should  not  pass  without  rigorous  punishment.  I  told 
her  Majesty,  that  upon  her  desire,  and  ambassador's  complaint, 
the  Queen  had  caused  to  apprehend  Mr.  Ruxbie,  and  had  ordered 
him  to  be  delivered  to  her  Majesty  whenever  she  should  please 
to  send  for  him.  And  as  concerning  Oneel,  she  had  no  dealing 
with  him,  nor  knew  that  there  had  been  any  servant  of  his  sent 
to  my  lord  Argile,  until  Mr.  Killegrew's  coming,  that  she  caused 
to  enquire  at  the  said  earl  ;  who  acknowledged  that  Oneel  had 
sent  one  unto  him  about  private  purposes  betwixt  themselves  ; 
but  that  she  did  neither  see  nor  speak  with  that  man,  nor  had  any 
dealing  with  any  man  in  Ireland. 

Her  Majesty  seamed  to  be  well  satisfied  with  the  matters  of 
Ireland,  and  concerning  Mr.  Ruxbie  ;  but  she  forgot  to  send  for 
him.  Before  I  took  my  farewel  in  order  to  my  return,  I  entied 
with  her  Majesty  concerning  the  title  :  for  my  lord  of  Leicester 
was  become  my  Queen's  avowed  friend,  and  had  been  twice  in 
hand  with  the  Queen  of  England  a  little  before  my  coming, 
desiring  her  to  declare  my  mistress  next  heir  ;  alledging  it  would 
be  her  greatest  security',  and  cried  out  in  anger,  that  Cecil  would 
undo  all.  Likewise  the  duke  of  Norfolk,  the  earl  of  Pembroke 
and  several  others,  shewed  themselves  openly  her  friends,  after 
they  understood  the  birth  of  the  prince  ;  so  that  her  Majesty's 
matters  in  England  were  hopeful  :  and  therefore  I  was  advised 
to  say  unto  her  Majesty,  That  I  was  assured  she  had  formerly 
delayed  the  declaring  the  Queen  second  person,  only  till  she  might 
see  such  succession  of  her  body  as  now  God  had  graciously 
granted  :  intreating  her  Majesty  to  embrace  that  fair  offered 
opportunity  of  satisfying  the  minds  of  m.any,  as  well  in  England 
as  in  Scotland,  who  desired  to  see  that  matter  out  of  doubt  :  and 
the  rather,  because  that  the  Queen  my  mistress  would  never  seek 
any  place  or  right  in  England,  but  by  her  Majesty's  favour  and 
furtherance.  She  answered.  That  the  birth  of  the  prince  was  a 
great  spur  to  cause  the  most  skilful  lawyers  in  England  to  use 
greater  diligence  in  tn,'ing  out  that  matter,  which  she  esteemed  to 
belong  most  justly  to  her  good  sister,  and  that  she  wished  from 
her  heart  that  it  should  be  that  way  decided.  I  replied.  That 
at  my  last  being  with  her,  I  found  her  Majesty  upon  the  same 
terms  ;  but  that  as  I  had  brought  her  good  news  from  the  Queen, 
I  was  very  desirous  to  be  so  happy  as  to  carry  home  with  me  unto 
her  Majesty  the  good  tidings  of  that  so  long  delayed  declaration. 
She  answered,  she  was  resolved  to  satisfy  the  Queen  in  that  matter 
by  those  noblemen  she  was  resolved  to  send  into  Scotland,  for  the 

78 


SIR  JAMES  MELVILLE 


baptism  of  the  prince.  All  this  I  perceived  to  be  but  shifts,  and 
so  took  my  leave,  because  my  brother  was  to  remain  there.  The 
next  day  her  Majesty  sent  unto  me  her  letter,  with  the  present  of 
a  fair  chain. 

My  brother  gave  me  the  advice  of  her  Majesty's  friends,  together 
with  his  own  instructions  how  to  proceed  after  my  coming  home, 
as  foUoweth  : 

"  First,  That  he  is  in  such  suspicion  for  his  handling  there,  by 
the  advertisements  of  Mr.  Ruxbie,  and  practices  of  her  enemies,, 
that  her  Majesty  must  signify  to  Mr.  Killegrew,  that  she  is 
minded  shortly  to  call  him  home,  else  he  fears  he  shall  be  com- 
manded to  return. 

"  Secondly,  That  her  Majesty  require  the  earl  of  Leicester  and 
secretary  Cecil  to  be  sent  to  be  her  gossips,  as  fittest  instruments 
to  perfect  all  articles  and  good  offices  of  amity  betsvixt  them. 
"  Item,  That  Mr.  Killegrew  be  well  treated  and  rewarded,  that 
he  may  make  good  report,  to  hold  off  discord,  that  intelligence 
may  continue  ;  and  desire  him  to  declare  unto  the  earl  of 
Leicester  and  secretary  Cecil,  that  it  cannot  stand  with  good 
friendship,  to  be  so  long  fed  with  fair  words  without  effect. 
"  Item,  That  her  Majesty  cast  not  off  the  earl  of  Northumber- 
land, albeit  as  a  fearful  and  facile  man  he  delivered  her  letter  to 
the  Queen  of  England  ;  neither  appear  to  find  fault  with  Sir 
Henry  Percy  as  yet,  for  his  dealing  with  Mr.  Ruxbie,  which  he 
doth  to  gain  favour  at  court,  being  upon  a  contrary  faction  to  his 
brother  the  earl. 

"  Item,  That  Mr.  Ruxbie  be  well  kept,  and  sent  far  north  to 
some  secure  part,  that  he  give  no  hasty  intelligence  ;  for  he 
hath  already  written  unto  secretary  Cecil,  by  Sir  Henry 
Percy's  conveyance,  that  he  can  discover  all  your  practices  and 
secrets. 

"  Let  my  lord  Argile  entertain  Oneel  as  of  himself,  the  Queen 
not  appearing  to  know  thereof. 

"  The  secretary  Cecil  devised  strange  practices  against  the 
meeting  ;  which  because  my  lord  of  Leicester  discovered  unto 
the  Queen  his  mistress.  Cecil  stirred  up  the  earl  of  Sussex  to 
forge  a  quarrel  against  him  :  but  the  Queen  took  the  earl  of 
Leicester's  part,  and  finally  agreed  them,  and  also  Leicester 
and  Ormond. 

"  Item,  That  her  Majesty  should  write  two  letters  with  Mr. 
Killegrew  to  my  brother  ;  the  one,  that  he  might  shew  unto  the 
Queen  of  England  ;  the  other,  that  he  might  shew  unto  the 
secretary  Cecil. 

"  Item,  To  advertise  my  brother  what  he  should  do  more  for 
my  lady  Lenox,  whose  liberty  might  do  much  good. 
"  Now  to  conclude  :  Seeing  the  great  mark  which  her  Majesty- 
shoots  at,  let  her  Majesty  be  more  careful  and  circumspect, 
that  her  desires  being  so  near  to  be  obtained,  be  not  all  over- 
thrown for  lack  of  secrecy,  good  management,  and  princely 

79 


THE  MEMOIRS  OF 


"  behaviour,  having  so  many  factions  enemies  lying  in  wait  to 
"  make  the  advantage  of  the  least  appearance  that  can  be  made." 

Shortly  after  my  coming  home,  Mr.  Killegiew  the  English 
ambassador  obtained  his  dispatch,  with  a  friendly  answer  to  his 
contentment,  and  a  fair  chain  ;  and  with  him  her  Majesty  sent 
these  two  letters  following  to  my  brother  by  his  own  advice,  that 
he  might  take  occasion  to  let  the  Queen  of  England  see  the  one, 
and  Mr.  Cecil  the  other,  partly  to  serve  to  put  some  doubts  out 
of  their  minds,  engendred  by  Mr.  Rvixbie's  advertisements  ; 
for,  as  I  have  said,  the  bishop  of  Ross  made  the  said  Ruxbie's 
address  to  the  Queen  :  for  neither  he  nor  the  earl  Bothwell 
desired  her  Majesty's  affairs  to  prosper  under  my  brother's 
management,  because  he  was  not  of  their  faction  ;  so  that  by 
their  means  Ruxbie  got  that  intelligence  as  put  all  her  Majesty's 
affairs  once  in  a  venture,  until  my  brother's  extraordinary  in- 
telligence from  such  as  were  most  intimate  with  the  Queen  of 
England,  made  him  to  cause  apprehend  the  said  Ruxbie,  with  his 
whole  letters  and  memoirs,  as  said  is.  So  are  many  good  princes 
handled,  and  commonly  their  truest  servants  decourted  by  the 
envy  and  craft  of  their  factious  enemies  ;  for  wicked  men,  who 
have  lost  their  credit  by  trumpery  and  tricks,  whereby  they  get  no 
place  to  do  good  service  to  princes,  essay  to  creep  into  their  favour 
by  wiles,  flattery,  and  other  unlawful  means,  v/hereby  they  may 
decourt  such  as  surmount  them  in  virtue  and  honest  reputation. 
Her  Majesty's  letter  to  my  brother  was  as  followeth  . 


T Rusty  and  well-beloved,   we   greet   you   well.     Whereas 
"  your  brother  James  hath  told   us  of  the  friendly  and 
"  faithful  advice  given  unto  you  and  him  by  Mr.  secretary 
Cecil,  toward  the  continuation  of  the  amity  betwixt  the  Queen 
our  good  sister  and  us,  tending  also  to  our  own  particular 
'  advantage  ;   we  thought  meet  to  send  these  few  lines,  that  you 
'  may  thank  him  heartily  in  our  name,  and  declare  unto  him  our 
meaning  and  intention,  as  you  find  opportunity  touching  the 
three  points  that  he  did  mention  at  that  time  : 
'  The  first,  as  we  understand,  Touching  our  towardliness  to 

■  them  of  the  religion  ;   the  second.  Touching  strict  justice  to  be 
observed  upon  the  borders  ;   the  third.  That  we  will  endeavour 

'  by  no  other  means  to  come  to  the  succession  of  the  crown  of 
'  England,  but  by  the  favour  and  forth-setting  of  our  good  sister. 
"  As  to  the  first,  you  shall  answer  in  our  name.  That  since  our 
'  return  out  of  France,  we  have  neither  constrained  nor  per- 
'  secuted  any  for  cause  of  religion,  nor  yet  minds  to  do  ;  their 
'  credit  with  us  being  so  manifest,  that  they  are  intrusted  with 

■  the  principal  offices,  and  bear  the  chiefest  charges  in  the 
''  kingdom,  and  principally  employed  in  our  most  urgent  aflPairs 
'  before    all    others.     Sir   Nicholas    Throclonorton    can    testify 

what  he  hath  seen  and  heard  at  his  being  here  thereanent, 

80 


SIR  JAMES  MELVILLE 


howbeit  that  contrary  bruits  are  blown  abroad  by  the  malice 
and  practices  of  our  enemies.  To  the  second,  concerning  the 
borders  ;  It  is  most  certain,  that  the  principal  officers  on  both 
the  sides,  are  special  instruments  of  all  the  disorders,  taking  oc- 
casion upon  our  late  troubles,  whenas  they  perceived  that  we 
might  not  so  well  take  order  with  them  as  we  were  willing,  as 
now  when  it  hath  pleased  God  to  grant  unto  us  more  quietness  ; 
desiring  him  also  to  procure  at  the  Queen  his  sovereign's  hands, 
that  the  like  diligence  be  taken  for  her  part  as  shall  be  seen  used 
by  us  :  and  then  we  doubt  not  but  that  both  he,  she,  and  all 
other  who  complain,  shall  be  satisfied.  As  to  the  third  and 
last  head  ;  you  shall  shew  unto  him  the  tenor  of  our  other  letter, 
for  satisfaction  to  the  Queen  and  our  other  friends  in  these 
parts.  So,  with  my  friendly  commendations  to  him  and  his 
wife,  I  commit  you  to  the  protection  of  the  Almighty'.  From 
the  castle  of  Edinburgh,  this  year  1566." 


"/''  g  ^ARusty  and  well-beloved,  we  greet  you  well.  We  have 
■  "  received  great  comfort  and  contentment  by  the  de- 
A  "  claration  your  brother  hath  made  to  us  of  the  Queen  our 
"  good  sister's  continual  affection  and  constant  love  towards  us  ; 
"  which  she  hath  now  shewn  unto  you,  and  your  brother  at  his 
"  coming  ;  as  also  by  her  letters  unto  our  self  :  likewise  for  the 
"  grant  she  hath  made  to  be  our  gossip,  and  promises  to  send  so 
"  honourable  a  com.pany  of  lords  and  ladies  for  solemnizing  the 
"  same  in  her  name  ;  for  which,  in  our  behalf,  you  shall  give  her 
"  Alajesty  most  hearty  thanks,  and  shew  unto  her  that  we  desire 
"  nothing  to  be  dene  therein,  but  as  may  conduce  best  for  her 
"  advantage,  and  least  to  her  expense  ;  praying  her  always,  that 
"  the  principal  man,  whom  it  will  please  her  to  send,  be  such  a 
"  one  as  we  have  by  long  experience  known  to  have  been  most 
"  familiar  with  her,  to  whom  we  may  the  more  freely  open  our 
"  mind,  and  signify  divers  things  which  we  intended  to  have 
"  spoken  by  mouth  unto  herself,  if  God  had  granted  our  desired 
"  meeting.  As  concerning  Oneel,  Ruxbie,  and  all  other  matters, 
"  we  hope  that  Mr.  Killegrev/  will  satisfy  her  sufficiently  ;  and 
"  also  how  that  we  desire  to  have  no  advancement  in  that  country, 
"  but  by  her  only  means  and  help,  hoping  and  intending  so  to 
"  direct  our  course  and  behaviour  toward  her,  as  she  shall  have 
"  cause  more  and  more  to  procure  earnestly  and  carefully  herself 
"  all  things  that  may  further  our  weal  and  advancement,  in  this 
"  country,  that  kingdom,  or  any  other.  In  the  which  hope  we 
"  will  do  our  best  to  follow  such  measures  as  may  please  her,  and 
"  to  avoid  all  things  that  may  offend  her  ;  and  we  give  our  most 
"  strict  command  unto  you  to  do  the  like,  so  long  as  you  remain 
"  there,  and  where-ever  you  be  about  our  service,  even  as  I  gave 
"  you  commandment  of  before.  Nevertheless,  in  the  mean  time, 
"  entertain  most  kindly  and  discreetly  all  those  in  that  country 

8i 


THE  MEMOIRS  OF 


who  profess  to  bear  good-will  unto  us  and  to  our  title  ;  yet  in 
such  sort  as  neither  you  nor  they  offend  the  Queen  our  good 
sister  :  and  if  there  chance  to  come  to  you  any  hasty  or  seditious 
persons,  admonish  them  gently  to  cease  ;  and  if  they  forbear 
not,  shew  unto  them  tliat  we  have  promised  to  the  Queen  to 
declare  the  names  and  practices  of  such  unto  her,  and  that  we 
will  not  fail  to  do  it  indeed  if  they  cease  not  :  so  shall  it  be 
known,  that  such  as  are  about  to  sow  discord  between  the  Queen 
our  good  sister  and  us,  doth  it  rather  upon  particular  respects 
and  for  their  own  advantage,  than  for  any  design  to  advance 
her  affairs  or  ours." 


These  kind  of  writings  were  for  that  time  devised,  to  overthrow 
and  cast  down  some  intelligences  which  were  discovered  by 
Ruxbie,  and  some  reports  raised  by  enemies,  that  my  brother  by 
his  practices  and  persuasions  had  kindled  a  great  fire,  and  had 
raised  a  great  faction  in  England.  He  did  not  deny  but  he  had 
dealt  v.'ith  many  to  win  what  favour  he  could  to  his  mistress  ; 
but  that  he  had  done  nothing  that  could  offend  the  Queen  of 
England,  and  that  he  had  no  commandment  to  enterprize  any 
thing  which  could  be  displeasing  to  her.  By  this  means  Ruxbie's 
intelligence  was  suppressed,  and  my  brother  suffered  to  stay  still 
in  England  ;  whereby  the  Queen's  friends  so  increased,  that 
many  whole  shires  were  ready  to  rebel,  and  their  captains  already 
named  by  the  election  of  the  nobility. 

About  this  time  her  Majesty  was  advertised  by  my  brother's 
letters,  that  the  earl  of  Bedford  was  upon  his  journey  toward 
Scotland  with  an  honourable  company,  as  also  the  ambassadors  of 
France  and  Savoy,  for  the  baptism  of  the  prince  ;  which  moved 
her  Majesty  to  pass  to  Stirling  with  the  prince,  for  the  solemnizing 
thereof.  But  she  was  still  sad  and  pensive  for  the  late  foul  act 
committed  in  her  presence  so  irreverenth',  she  being  their  born 
Queen,  and  thereby  in  hazard  of  losing  the  fruit  of  her  womb. 
So  many  great  sighs  she  would  give,  that  it  was  pity  to  hear  her  ; 
and  fev/  there  were  to  endeavour  to  comfort  her. 

Sometime  she  would  declare  part  of  her  grief  to  me  ;  which 
I  assayed  the  best  I  could  to  ass  wage,  by  telling  her,  that  I  thought 
the  greater  multitude  of  friends  that  she  had  got  in  England, 
should  cause  her  to  forget  in  Scotland  the  lesser  number  of  enemies 
and  unruly  ofTenders,  unworthy  of  her  wrath  ;  and  that  her 
excellent  qualities,  in  clemency,  temperance  and  fortitude,  should 
not  suffer  her  mind  to  be  possessed  or  suppressed  with  the  re- 
membrance of  offences  ;  but  that  rather  she  should  bend  up  her 
spirit  by  a  princely  and  womanly  behaviour,  whereby  she  might 
best  gain  the  hearts  of  the  whole  people,  both  here  and  in  England  ; 
humbly  requesting  her  Majesty,  first  to  consult  with  her  God, 
next  with  her  honour,  and  thirdly  with  her  interest,  in  the 
establishing  of  her  state,  and  in  joining  the  two  kingdoms  in  a 

82 


SIR  JAMES  MELVILLE 


happy  monarchy,  which  she  knew  to  be  so  near  effectuate  in  her 
person  ;    seeing   also    the    banished    estate   of   the   offenders    so 
miserable,  they  not  having  a  hole  to  hide  their  head  in,  nor  a 
penny  wherewith   to   buy   their   dinner  :     that   the   most   noble 
natures  would  think  them  sufficiently  punished  :    that  it  was  a 
comely  thing  for  a  woman  to  be  pitiful,  and  to  want  vengeance. 
I  leave  it,  said  I,  Madam,  to  your  own  judgment,  whether  pre- 
sently it  be   more   for  your  honour  and   advancement  of  your 
interest,  to  cease  from  any  desire  or  pursuit  of  any  further  revenge, 
W'hereupon  may  ensue  more  desperate  enterprizes  ;    or  to  give 
place    unto    necessity    and    reason,    to    rule    over    the    beastly 
passions    of    the    mind  :      for     as     princes     are    called    divine 
persons,  so  no  prince  can  pretend  to  this  title,  but  he  who  draws 
near  the  nature  of  God  by  godliness  and  good  government,  being 
slow  to  vengeance,  and  ready  to  forgive.      It  is  manifestly  known 
that  wise  princes  entertain  no  longer  feud  at  their  enemies,  than 
they  see  it  may  be  needful  for  the  weal  of  their  affairs  and  state  ; 
and  they  change  their  favour  and  hatred  according  to  time  and 
occasions.     Your    Majesty    may    remember,    that    many    things 
might  have  been  better  managed  :  I   speak  this  with  love  and 
reverence.     Your  Alajesty  might  have  been  as  well  obeyed  as 
ever  was  any  King  in  Scotland,  if  you  had  taken  such  princely 
care  as  was  requisite.     You  know,  how  that  by  your  Majesty's 
own  express  commandment,  I  did  shew  you  long  before  what 
inconveniences  were  like  to  fall  out  upon  the  grudges  I  perceived 
before  the  slaughter  of  Riccio  ;    and  God  is  my  witness,  I  did 
what  lay  in  my  power  to  have  them  eschew'ed  and  prevented. 
And  since  that  time  your  Majesty  hath  repented  that  my  advice 
was  not  followed  :    I  pray  God  that  the  like  repentance  fall  not 
out  again  too  late.     At  my  being  in  England,  your  adversaries 
were  beginning  to  vaunt  upon  vain  reports,  that  our  westerly 
winds  had  blown  east  among  them  ;    so  that  my  brother  and  I 
had  enough  to  do  to  beat  it  out  of  the  heads  of  divers  who  were 
devotedly  addicted  to  the  advancement  of  your  title. 

This  communing  began  at  the  entry  of  her  supper  in  her  ear, 
in  French,  when  she  was  casting  up  great  sighs,  refusing  to  eat 
upon  any  persuasion  that  my  lords  of  Murray  and  Mar  could 
make  to  her.  The  supper  being  ended,  her  Majesty  took  me  by 
the  hand,  and  went  down  through  the  park  of  Stirling,  and  came 
up  through  the  town,  ever  reasoning  with  me  upon  their  purposes. 
And  albeit  she  took  hardly  with  them  at  the  first,  she  began  to 
alter  her  mind,  thinking  fit  that  my  lord  of  Bedford  should  inter- 
cede for  her  rebels  ;  they  to  be  banished  out  of  England  and 
Scotland  during  her  pleasure,  so  to  be  by  time  reconciled  to  them, 
according  to  their  future  deportments  :  and  for  her  part,  she 
purposed  to  proceed  with  such  a  gracious  government,  as  should 
w'in  the  victory  over  herself,  and  all  her  competitors  and  enemies 
in  time  coming  ;  which  she  could  have  done  as  well  as  any  prince 
in  Europe.     But,  alas  1    she  had  bad  company  about  her.     For 

83 


THE  MEMOIRS  OF 


the  earl  of  Bothwell,  who  had  a  mark  of  his  own  that  he  shot  at, 
as  soon  as  he  understood  of  her  wise  and  merciful  dehberations, 
he  took  occasion  to  bring  in  the  earl  of  Morton  and  his  associates, 
thereby  to  make  them  his  friends,  and  by  them  to  fortify  his 
faction.  For  apparently  he  had  already  in  his  head  the  resolution 
of  performing  the  fou!  murder  of  the  King,  which  he  afterwards 
put  in  execution,  that  he  might  marry  the  Queen.  Both  which  he 
brought  to  pass  to  his  own  uttet  wreck  and  confusion,  and  thereby 
great  trouble  and  mischief  upon  the  country  ;  and  was  also  at 
last  the  Queen's  wreck,  and  the  hindrance  of  all  our  hopes  in  the 
hasty  obtaining  of  all  her  desires  concerning  the  crown  of  England. 

The  Queen's  Majesty  being  advertised  that  the  earl  of  Bedford 
was  come  to  Berwick  on  his  journey  to  the  baptism,  sent  me  well 
accompanied  with  diligence  to  meet  him  at  Coldingham,  to  be 
his  first  convo\^,  and  to  inform  him  rightly  of  all  her  proceedings, 
and  to  overthrow  all  evil  bruits  invented  by  the  malice  of  her 
adversaries.  For,  as  I  have  said,  it  was  a  perverse  time  ;  and  the 
more  that  the  number  of  her  friends  increased  in  England,  the 
more  practices  her  enemies  made,  and  the  more  lies  were  invented 
against  her.  But  the  good  earl  gave  me  more  credit  than  he  did 
to  any  wrong  report  that  was  made.  For  he  was  at  this  time 
become  one  of  the  surest  and  most  affectionate  friends  she  had  in 
England. 

There  came  with  him  Mr.  Gary,  eldest  son  to  my  lord  of 
Hunsdean  ;  Mr.  Hatton,  greatest  in  favour  with  the  Queen  of 
England  for  the  time  ;  and  one  called  Mr.  Lignish,  greatest  in 
favour  with  the  duke  of  Noifolk  ;  and  a  good  number  of  knights 
and  gentlemen  of  Yorkshire,  with  the  most  part  of  the  captains 
of  Berwick.  Her  Majesty  was  sufficiently  informed  by  my 
brother's  writing  to  her  and  me,  what  kind  of  language  and  enter- 
tainment was  most  proper  for  the  earl  and  each  of  them. 

When  all  the  rest  of  the  ambassadors  were  come,  they  repined 
to  see  the  Englishmen  more  friendl}'  and  familiarly  used  than 
themselves.  For  then  we  had  more  to  do  with  England  than  with 
France.  And  the  French  earl  who  was  sent  v^'as  no  courtier, 
but  a  simple  man.  And  JVIonsieur  de  Morat,  the  duke  of  Savoy's 
ambassador,  being  far  off,  came  after  the  baptism.  During  their 
abode  at  Stirling,  there  was  daily  banqueting,  dancing,  and 
triumph.  And  at  the  principal  banquet  there  fell  out  a  great 
grudge  among  the  Englishmen  :  for  a  Frenchman  called  Bastian 
devised  a  number  of  men  formed  like  satyrs,  with  long  tails,  and 
whips  in  their  hands,  running  before  the  meat,  which  was  brought 
through  the  great  hall  upon  a  machine  or  engine,  marching  as 
appeared  alone,  with  musicians  clothed  like  maids,  singing,  and 
playing  upon  all  sorts  of  instruments.  But  the  satj'rs  were  not 
content  only  to  make  way  or  room  but  put  their  hands  behind 
them  to  their  tails,  which  they  wagged  with  their  hands  in  such 
sort,  as  the  Englishmen  supposed  it  had  been  devised  and  done 
in  derision  of  them  ;  weakly  apprehending  that  which  they  should 

84 


SIR  JAMES  MELVILLE 


not  have  appeared  to  understand.  For  Mr.  Hatton,  Mr.  Lignish 
and  the  most  part  of  the  gentlemen  desired  to  sup  before  the 
Queen  and  great  banquet,  that  they  might  see  the  better  the  order 
and  ceremonies  of  the  triumph  :  but  so  soon  as  they  perceived 
the  satyrs  wagging  their  tails,  they  all  sat  down  upon  the  bare  floor 
behind  the  back  of  the  table,  that  they  might  not  see  themselves 
derided,  as  they  thought.  Air.  Hatton  said  unto  me,  if  it  were 
not  in  the  Queen's  presence,  he  would  put  a  dagger  to  the  heart 
of  that  French  knave  Bastian,  who  he  alledged  had  done  it  out 
of  despight  that  the  Queen  made  more  of  them  than  of  the  French- 
men. I  excused  the  matter  the  best  I  could  :  but  the  noise  was 
so  great  behind  the  Queen's  back,  where  her  Majesty  and  my  lord 
of  Bedford  did  sit,  that  they  heard,  and  turned  about  their  faces 
to  enquire  what  tlie  matter  meant.  I  informed  them  that  it  was 
occasioned  by  the  satyrs,  so  that  the  Queen  and  my  lord  of  Bedford 
had  both  enough  to  do  to  get  them  appeased.  It  fell  out  un- 
happily at  such  a  time,  and  the  English  gentlemen  committed  a 
great  oversight  to  notice  it  was  done  against  them.  But  my  lord 
of  Bedford  was  discreet  and  interpreted  all  things  to  the  best. 

My  lord  of  Bedford  was  rewarded  with  a  rich  chain  of  diamonds, 
worth  2000  crowns  ;  Mr.  Gary  with  a  chain  of  pearl,  and  a  ring 
with  a  fair  diamond  ;  Mr.  Hatton  had  a  chain  with  her  Majesty's 
picture,  and  a  ring  ;  Mr.  Lignish  and  five  others  of  quality  had 
each  of  them  chains.  I  was  commanded  with  many  others  to 
attend  them  towards  the  road.  They  parted  all  very  well  content 
and  satisfied  with  the  Queen's  Majesti",  but  lamented  that  they 
perceived  the  King  so  much  slighted.  My  lord  of  Bedford  desired 
me  to  request  her  Majesty'  to  entertain  him  as  she  had  done  at  the 
beginning,  for  her  own  honour  and  the  advancement  of  her  affairs  ; 
which  I  forgot  not  to  do  at  all  occasions. 

After  the  baptism  and  parting  of  the  ambassadors,  her  Majesty 
desirous  to  put  good  order  upon  the  borders,  sent  the  earl  of 
Bothweil  before,  who  in  the  pursuit  of  thieves  was  hurt.  Her 
Majesty  passed  afterward  to  Jedburg  herself,  where  the  earls  of 
Bothweil  and  Huntly  enterprized  the  slaughter  of  the  earl  of 
Murray,  but  the  lord  Hume  came  there  with  forces  and  prevented 
that  enterprize.  Her  Majesty  returned  by  the  Merse,  and  desired 
to  see  Berwick  afar  of,  where  she  was  honoured  with  many  shots 
of  artillery  ;  and  Sir  John  Foster  warden  upon  the  English  border 
came  and  conferred  with  her  Majesty  for  keeping  of  good  order. 
And  the  mean  time  while  he  was  speaking  with  her  Majesty  on 
horseback,  his  courser  did  rise  up  with  his  foremost  legs,  to  take 
the  Queen's  horse  by  the  neck  with  his  teeth,  but  his  feet  hurt  her 
Majesty's  thigh  very  ill.  Incontinent  the  warden  lighted  off  his 
horse,  and  sat  down  upon  his  knees  craving  her  Majesty's  pardon  : 
for  then  all  England  did  much  reverence  her.  Her  Majesty  made 
him  to  rise,  and  said  that  she  was  not  hurt,  yet  it  compelled  her 
Majesty  to  tarry  two  days  at  the  castle  of  Hume  until  she  recovered 
again.     The  King  followed  her  about  whithersoever  she  rode, 

8S 


THE  MEMOIRS  OF 


but  got  no  good  countenance  ;  so  that  finding  himself  slighted, 
he  went  to  Glasgow,  where  he  fell  sick  ;  it  being  alledged  that  he 
had  got  poison  from  some  of  his  servants. 

In  the  mean  time  the  earl  of  Bothwell  ruled  all  at  court,  having 
brought  home  the  banished  lords,  and  packed  up  a  quiet  friend- 
ship with  the  earl  of  Morton.  After  her  Majesty's  return  to 
Edinburgh,  she  reconciled  the  earls  of  Huntly,  Bothwell,  Argile 
and  others.  From  that  her  Majesty  went  to  Stirling  to  see  the 
prince,  and  returned  again  to  Edinburgh,  whither  the  King  was 
afterward  brought  and  lodged  in  the  Kirk-field  as  a  place  of  good 
air,  where  he  might  best  recover  his  health.  But  many  suspected 
that  the  earl  of  Bothwell  had  some  enterprize  against  him,  few 
durst  advertise  him,  because  he  told  all  again  to  some  of  his  own 
servants,  who  were  not  all  honest.  Yet  lord  Robert  earl  of 
Orkney  told  him,  that  if  he  retired  not  hastily  out  of  that  place, 
it  would  cost  him  his  life  ;  which  he  told  again  to  the  Queen  ; 
and  my  lord  Robert  denied  that  ever  he  spoke  it  :  this  advertise- 
ment moved  the  earl  of  Bothwell  to  haste  forward  his  enterprize. 
He  had  before  laid  a  train  of  powder  under  the  house  where  the 
King  did  lodge,  and  in  the  night  did  blow  up  the  said  house  with 
the  powder  ;  but  it  was  spoken  that  the  King  was  taken  forth, 
and  brought  down  to  a  stable,  where  a  napkin  was  stopped  in  his 
mouth,  and  he  therewith  suffocated. 

Every  body  suspected  the  earl  of  Bothwell,  and  those  who  durst 
speak  freely  to  others  said  plainly  that  it  was  he.  Whereupon 
he  drew  together  a  number  of  lords  of  his  dependers  to  be  an 
assize,  which  cleansed  and  acquitted  him  ;  some  for  fear  ;  some 
for  favour,  and  the  greatest  part  in  expectation  of  advantage. 
This  way  being  assoilzied,  he  remained  still  the  greatest  favourite 
at  court.  My  lord  of  Alurray  was  retired  from  the  court  several 
days  before.  Her  Majesty  kept  her  chamber  for  a  while.  I  came 
to  the  door  the  next  morning  after  the  murder  ;  and  the  earl  of 
Bothwell  said  that  her  Majesty  was  sorrowful  and  quiet,  which 
occasioned  him  to  come  forth.  He  said  the  strangest  accident 
had  fallen  out  which  ever  was  heard  of,  for  thunder  had  come  out 
of  the  sky,  and  had  burnt  the  King's  house,  and  himself  was  found 
dead  lying  a  little  distance  from  the  house  under  a  tree.  He 
desired  me  to  go  up  and  see  him,  how  that  there  was  not  a  hurt 
nor  a  mark  on  all  his  body.  But  when  I  went  up  to  see  him,  he 
had  been  taken  into  a  chamber,  and  kept  by  one  Alexander 
Durham  ;    but  I  could  not  get  a  sight  of  him. 

The  bruit  began  to  rise  that  the  Queen  would  marry  the  earl  of 
Bothwell,  who  had  six  months  before  married  the  earl  of  Huntly's 
sister,  and  that  for  this  design  he  was  resolved  to  part  with  his 
own  lady.  Whereat  every  good  subject  who  loved  the  Queen's 
honour  and  the  prince's  safety,  had  sore  hearts,  thinking  thereby 
her  Majesty  would  be  dishonoured,  and  the  prince  in  danger  to  be 
cut  off  by  him  who  had  slain  his  father.  But  few  or  none  durst 
speak  in  the  contrary.     Yet  my  lord  Herreis  a  worthy  nobleman 

86 


SIR  JAMES  MELVILLE 


came  to  Edinburgh  well  accompanied,  and  told  her  Majesti,'  what 
reports  were  going  through  the  country,  of  the  earl  of  Bothwell's 
murdering  the  King,  and  how  that  she  was  to  marry  him,  re- 
questing her  Majestj'  most  humbly  upon  his  knees  to  remember 
her  honour  and  dignity,',  and  the  safety  of  the  prince,  which  all 
would  be  in  danger  if  she  married  the  said  earl,  with  many  other 
great  persuasions  to  shew  the  utter  wreck  and  inconveniencies 
would  be  thereby  occasioned.  Her  Majesty  appeared  to  wonder 
how  these  reports  could  go  abroad,  seeing,  as  she  said,  there  was 
no  such  thing  in  her  mind.  He  begg'd  her  Majesty's  pardon,  and 
prayed  her  to  take  his  honest  meaning  in  a  good  part.  And 
immediately  took  his  farewell,  fearing  the  earl  of  Both  well  should 
get  notice  thereof.  He  had  fifty  horse  with  him  for  the  time,  and 
caused  each  of  them  to  buy  a  new  spear  at  Edinburgh,  and  so 
rode  home. 

I  was  resolved  to  have  said  as  much  to  her  Majesty  ;  but  in 
the  mean  time  there  came  a  letter  to  me  from  one  Thomas  Bishop 
a  Scottishman,  who  had  been  long  in  England,  and  was  a  great 
persuader  of  many  in  England  to  favour  her  Majesty's  title.  He 
used  oft  to  write  unto  my  brother  and  me  informations  and 
advertisements.  At  this  time  in  his  letter  to  me,  he  used  even 
the  like  language  that  my  lord  Herreis  had  spoken,  but  more 
freely,  because  he  was  absent  in  another  country.  He  adjured 
me  to  shew  the  said  letter  unto  her  Majesty,  declaring  how  it  was 
bruited  in  England  that  her  Majesty  was  to  marry  the  earl  of 
Bothwell,  who  was  the  murderer  of  her  husband,  who  at  present 
had  a  wife  of  his  own,  a  man  full  of  all  vice  ;  which  reports  he 
could  not  believe,  by  reason  that  he  judged  her  Majesty  to  be  of 
far  greater  knowledge,  than  to  commit  such  a  gross  oversight,  so 
prejudicial  every  way  to  her  interest,  and  the  noble  mark  he  knew 
she  shot  at  :  seeing  if  she  married  him,  she  would  lose  the  favour 
of  God,  her  own  reputation,  and  the  hearts  of  all  England,  Ireland 
and  Scotland,  with  many  other  dissuasions  and  examples  of 
history,  which  would  be  tedious  to  rehearse.  I  had  been  some 
days  absent,  but  upon  receipt  hereof  I  went  to  court  to  shew  this 
letter  to  her  Majesty,  protesting  that  she  would  take  it  in  good 
part. 

After  that  her  Majesty  had  read  the  said  letter,  she  gave  it  me 
again  without  any  more  speech,  but  called  upon  the  secretary 
Lidington,  and  told  him  that  I  had  shewed  her  a  strange  letter, 
desiring  him  also  to  read  it.  He  asked  what  it  could  be.  She 
answered,  a  device  of  his  own,  tending  to  the  wreck  of  the  earl  of 
Bothwell.  He  took  me  by  the  hand,  and  drew  me  aside  to  see  the 
said  letter  ;  which  when  he  had  read,  he  asked  what  had  been  in 
my  mind,  for,  says  he,  so  soon  as  the  earl  Bothwell  gets  notice 
hereof,  as  I  fear  he  will  very  shortly,  he  will  cause  you  to  be  killed. 
I  said  it  was  a  sore  matter  to  sec  that  good  princess  run  to  utter 
wreck,  and  nobody  to  be  so  far  concerned  in  her  as  to  forewarn 
her  of  her  danger.     He  said  I  had  done  more  honestly  than  wisely  ; 

87 


THE  MEMOIRS  OF 


and  therefore  I  pray  you,  says  he,  retire  diligently  before  the  earl 
of  Bothwell  comes  up  from  his  dinner.  Her  Majesty  told  him  at 
her  first  meeting,  having  first  engaged  him  to  promise  to  do  me 
no  harm.  Notwithstanding  whereof  I  was  enquired  after,  but 
was  flown  and  could  not  be  found  till  his  fury  was  slacked  :  for 
I  was  advertised  there  was  nothing  but  slaughter  in  case  I  had 
been  gotten.  Whereat  her  Majesty  was  much  dissatisfied,  telling 
hinti  that  he  would  cause  her  be  left  of  all  her  servants  ;  where- 
upon he  renewed  his  engagements  that  I  should  receive  no  harm  ; 
whereof  I  being  advertised,  I  went  again  unto  her  Majesty, 
shewing  her  that  she  had  never  so  much  injured  me  as  by  thinking 
that  I  had  invented  the  said  letter,  assuring  her  that  it  came  from 
the  said  Thomas  Bishop,  and  that  albeit  it  had  not  come  from 
him,  I  thought  it  my  duty  to  have  freely  told  her  Majesty  my 
opinion  in  all  reverence  and  humility,  which  was  contained  in  the 
said  letter  ;  but  I  found  she  had  no  mind  to  enter  upon  this 
subject. 

Shortly  after  her  Majesty  went  to  Stirling,  and  in  her  back- 
coming  betwixt  Linlithgow  and  Edinburgh,  the  earl  of  Bothwell 
rencountred  her  with  a  great  company,  and  took  her  Majesty's 
horse  by  the  bridle  ;  his  men  took  the  earl  of  Huntly,  the 
secretary  Lidington  and  me,  and  carried  us  captives  to  Dunbar  : 
all  the  rest  were  permitted  to  go  free.  There  the  earl  of  Bothwell 
boasted  he  would  marry  the  Queen,  who  would  or  who  would  not  ; 
yea  whether  she  would  herself  or  not.  Captain  Blackater  who 
had  taken  me,  alledged  that  it  was  with  the  Queen's  own  consent. 
The  next  day  in  Dunbar  I  obtained  permission  to  go  home. 
Afterward  the  court  came  to  Edinburgh  ;  and  there  a  number  of 
noblemen  were  drawn  together  in  a  chamber  within  the  palace, 
where  they  all  subscribed  a  paper,  declaring  that  they  judged  it 
was  much  the  Q'leen's  interest  to  marry  Bothwell,  he  having  many 
friends  in  Lothian  and  upon  the  borders,  which  would  cause  good 
order  to  be  kept.  And  then  the  Queen  could  not  but  marry  him, 
seeing  he  had  ravished  her  and  lain  with  her  against  her  will.  I 
cannot  tell  how  nor  by  what  law  he  parted  with  his  own  wife, 
sister  to  the  earl  of  Huntly. 

A  little  before  this  the  earl  of  Murray  had  desired  liberty  to  go 
to  France.  The  secretary  Lidington  had  been  long  in  suspicion 
absent  from  court,  and  was  brought  in  again  by  my  brother  Sir 
Robert's  persuasion,  for  the  great  credit  and  handling  he  had  with 
many  noblemen  in  England  favourers  of  her  Majesty's  title  : 
albeit  that  he  had  as  great  credit  himself  ;  yet  he  would  not  follow 
the  custom  of  ambitious  courtiers  who  would  engross  all  to  them- 
selves, unwilling  to  suffer  a  companion.  He  knew  also  that  he 
was  suspected,  because  the  earl  Bothwell  was  not  his  friend.  Thus 
Lidington  was  again  brought  in  ;  but  not  long  after  the  earl  of 
Bothwell  thought  to  have  slain  him  in  the  Queen's  chamber,  had 
not  her  Majesty  come  betwixt  and  saved  him  :  but  he  fled  the 
next  day  and  tarried  with  the  earl  of  Athole.     As  for  me  I  was  not 

88 


SIR  JAMES  MELVILLE 


oft  at  court  but  now  and  then,  yet  I  chanced  to  be  there  at  the 
marriage.  When  I  came  that  time  to  the  court,  I  found  my  lord 
duke  of  Orkney  sitting  at  his  supper,  who  welcomed  me,  saying, 
I  had  been  a  great  stranger,  desiring  me  to  sit  down  and  sup  with 
him  ;  the  earl  of  Huntly,  the  justice  clerk,  and  divers  others  being 
sitting  at  table  with  him.  I  said  I  had  already  supped.  Then 
he  called  for  a  cup  of  wine  and  drank  to  me,  saying,  you  had  need 
grow  fatter,  for,  says  he,  the  zeal  of  tlie  commonwealth  hath  eaten 
you  up,  and  made  you  lean.  I  answered,  that  every  little  member 
should  serve  for  some  use,  but  the  care  of  the  commonwealth 
appertained  most  to  him,  and  the  rest  of  the  nobihty,  who  should 
be  as  fathers  of  the  same.  I  knew  well,  says  he,  he  would  find 
a  pin  for  ever>-  bore.  Then  he  fell  in  discoursing  of  gentlewomen, 
speaking  such  filthy  language,  that  I  left  him,  and  went  up  to  the 
Queen,  who  expressed  much  satisfaction  at  my  coming. 

The  marriage  was  made  at  the  palace  in  Holy-rood-house, 
after  sermon  by  Adam  Bothwell  bishop  of  Orkney,  in  the  great 
hall  where  the  council  used  to  sit,  according  to  the  order  of  the 
reformed  religion,  and  not  in  the  chapel  at  the  mass,  as  was  the 
king's  marriage. 

After  the  marriage,  he  who  was  earl  of  Bothwell,  now  duke  of 
Orkney,  was  very  earnest  to  get  the  prince  in  his  hands  ;  but  my 
lord  of  ]\Iar,  who  was  a  true  nobleman,  would  not  deliver  him 
out  of  his  custody,  alledging  that  he  could  not  without  consent 
of  the  three  states  :  yet  he  was  so  frequently  crossed  by  such  as 
had  the  authority  in  their  hands,  that  he  was  thereby  put  to  a  great 
strait.  And  after  that  he  had  made  divers  refusals,  among  others 
he  made  his  moan  to  me,  praying  me  to  help  to  save  the  prince  out 
of  his  hands  who  had  slain  his  father,  and  had  already  made  his 
vaunt  among  his  familiars,  that  if  he  could  get  him  once  in  his 
hands,  he  would  warrant  him  from  revenging  his  father's  death. 
I  assured  his  lordship  he  should  want  no  assistance  I  was  capable 
to  give  :  he  desired  to  know  if  I  could  propose  any  outgate.  I 
answered  that  I  was  intimately  acquainted  with  Sir  James  Balfour, 
and  that  I  knew  how  matters  stood  bet\vixt  Bothwell  and  him, 
namely  there  W'ere  some  jealousies  arisen  betwixt  them,  which  I 
thought,  if  rightly  managed,  might  be  improved  for  the  prince's 
safety.  I  also  told  him  that  the  earl  intended  to  have  the  castle 
out  of  his  hands  :  for  the  earl  and  he  had  been  great  companions, 
and  he  was  also  very  great  with  the  Queen,  so  that  the  custody 
of  the  castle  of  Edinburgh  was  committed  to  him  :  but  afterward 
he  would  not  content  to  be  present,  nor  take  part  with  the  mur- 
derers of  the  King,  whereby  he  came  in  suspicion  with  the  earl 
of  Bothwell,  who  would  no  more  credit  him,  so  that  he  would  have 
had  the  castle  out  of  his  hands,  to  have  committed  the  charge 
thereof  to  the  laird  of  Beinston.  I  told  his  lordship  he  might 
make  this  one  of  his  excuses.  That  he  could  not  deliver  the  prince 
till  he  should  see  a  secure  place  to  keep  him  in.  And  upon  the 
other  hand,  when  I  returned  to  Edinburgh,  I  dealt  with  Sir  James 

89 


THE  MEMOIRS  OF 


Balfour,  not  to  part  with  the  castle,  whereby  he  might  be  an 
instrument  to  save  the  prince  and  the  Queen,  who  was  so  dis- 
dainfully handled,  and  with  such  reproachful  language,  that  in 
presence  of  Arthur  Areskine,  I  heard  her  ask  for  a  knife  to  stab 
herself,  or  else,  said  she,  I  shall  drown  myself.  Now,  says  I, 
to  Sir  James  Balfour,  there  is  no  security  for  you  to  be  out  of 
suspicion,  but  to  keep  the  castle  in  your  own  hands,  and  so  to  be 
the  good  instrument  both  of  saving  Queen  and  prince,  and  in 
assisting  the  nobility,  who  are  about  to  crown  the  prince,  and  to 
pursue  the  earl  of  Bothwell  for  the  King's  murder.  I  told  him, 
That  unless  he  took  part  with  them,  he  would  be  holden  as  guilty' 
of  the  said  murder,  by  reason  of  his  long  familiarity  with  the  earl 
of  Bothwell  :  that  it  was  a  happy  thing  for  him  that  the  said  earl 
was  in  suspicion  of  him  ;  assuring  him  that  I  had  intelligence, 
by  one  who  was  of  the  earl  of  Bothweli's  council,  to  wit,  the  laird 
of  Whitlaw,  captain  of  the  castle  of  Dunbar,  that  the  earl  of 
Bothwell  was  determined  to  take  the  castle  of  Edinburgh  from 
him,  and  make  the  laird  of  Beinston,  one  Hepburn,  captain  thereof, 
and  then  to  put  the  prince  there  in  his  keeping. 

Sir  James  Balfour  gave  ear  to  my  proposition,  and  consented 
to  help  to  pursue  the  murderers,  upon  condition  that  the  laird  of 
Grange  would  engage  upon  his  honour  to  be  his  protector,  in 
case  afterward  the  nobility  should  alter  upon  him  :  for  he  and 
most  of  them  had  formerly  run  contrary  courses,  so  that  he  durst 
not  credit  them. 

The  earl  of  Mar  being  hereof  from  me  advertised,  by  his  brother 
Alexander  Areskine,  who  was  true  and  careful  of  the  prince's 
safety,  coming  secretly  to  me  at  midnight  ;  for  the  days  were 
dangerous  for  all  honest  men.  Now  my  lord  of  Mar  being  con- 
tinually required  and  threatned  to  deliver  the  prince  out  of  his 
hands,  at  length  granted,  (only  to  drive  off  time)  upon  condition 
that  an  honest  responsible  nobleman  should  be  made  captain  of 
the  castle  of  Edinburgh,  the  only  secure  place  of  keeping  the 
prince  in.  This  answer  was  thought  fit  to  asswage  the  present 
fury,  until  the  nobility  might  convene  to  pursue  the  murderers, 
and  to  crown  the  prince,  as  they  had  already  concluded  at  a  secret 
meeting  among  themselves  ;  which  v/as  not  kept  so  private  but 
that  one  of  the  said  lords  gave  advertisement  thereof  to  the  earl 
of  Bothwell,  how  that  they  were  minded  to  environ  the  palace  of 
Holy-rood-house,  and  therein  to  apprehend  him.  Whereupon 
he  forgot  enquiring  after  the  prince,  being  only  now  concerned 
how  to  save  himself  :  therefore  he  fled  out  of  Edinburgh  to  the 
castle  of  Borthwick,  from  that  to  the  castle  of  Dunbar,  taking 
always  the  Queen  with  him  where  ever  he  went. 

All  Scotland  cried  out  upon  the  foul  murder  of  the  King  ; 
but  few  of  them  were  careful  how  to  revenge  it,  till  they  were 
driven  thereto  by  the  crying  out  of  all  other  nations  against  all 
Scottishmen  where  ever  they  travelled  either  by  sea  or  land. 
Among  other  princes,  the  King  of  France  sent  hither  to  his 

go 


SIR  JAMES  MELVILLE 


ambassador  Monsieur  le  Croc,  a  grave,  aged,  discreet  gentleman, 
advanced  by  the  house  of  Guise,  a  letter,  therein  expressing  his 
wonder,  that  such  a  foul  murder  being  committed  upon  the 
person  of  a  King,  so  few  honest  subjects  were  found  to  find  fault 
with  the  same,  far  less  to  seek  after  any  trial,  or  see  the  same 
punished.  Whereupon  the  lords  who  had  the  enterprize  in  hand 
were  hasted  forward  to  take  arms  ;  and  in  the  mean  time  they 
obliged  themselves,  by  a  writing  under  their  hands,  which  they 
delivered  to  the  said  Monsieur  le  Croc  to  send  to  the  King  his 
master,  that  they  should  do  their  utmost  diligence  to  try  out  the 
authors  of  that  foul  murder  of  their  King  :  and  in  the  mean  time 
convened  to  the  number  of  3000  men,  and  came  to  Edinburgh, 
and  there  set  out  a  proclamation  of  their  just  quarrel.  Also 
sundry  libels  were  set  out  both  in  rhime  and  prose,  to  move  the 
hearts  of  the  whole  subjects  to  assist  and  take  part  in  so  good  a 
cause. 

The  earl  of  Bothwell  having  the  Queen  in  his  company  convened 
a  greater  number  out  of  the  Merse  and  Lothian,  and  out  of  all 
parts  where  he  had  interest  or  friendship.  Her  Majesty's  pro- 
clamation was  not  well  obeyed  ;  and  so  many  as  came  had  no 
hearts  to  fight  in  that  quarrel.  Yet  the  earl  of  Bothwell  marched 
forward  out  of  Dunbar  toward  Edinburgh,  taking  the  Queen  with 
him.  The  lords  again  with  their  company  went  out  of  Edinburgh 
on  foot,  with  an  earnest  desire  to  fight.  Both  armies  lay  not  far 
from  Carberry  :  the  earl  Bothwell's  men  camped  upon  the  hill, 
in  a  strength  very  advantageous  ;  the  lords  encamped  at  the  foot 
of  the  hill.  And  albeit  her  Majesty  was  there,  I  cannot  call  it 
her  army  :  for  many  of  those  who  were  with  her  were  of  opinion 
that  she"  had  intelligence  with  the  lords,  especially  such  as  were 
informed  of  the  many  indignities  put  upon  her  by  the  earl  of 
Bothwell  since  their  marriage.  He  was  so  beastly  and  suspicious, 
that  he  suffered  her  not  to  pass  one  day  in  patience,  without 
making  her  shed  abundance  of  tears.  Thus  pait  of  his  own 
company  detested  him  ;  other  part  of  them  believed  that  her 
Majesty  would  fain  have  been  quit  of  him,  but  thought  shame  to 
be  the  doer  thereof  directly  herself. 

In  the  mean  time  the  laird  of  Grange  did  ride  about  the  hill 
with  200  horsemen,  who  came  there  with  Drumlanrig,  Cessford 
and  Coldingknows,  thinking  to  be  betwixt  the  earl  of  Bothwell 
and  Dunbar,  and  was  minded  to  make  an  onset  that  way,  which 
was  plain,  and  that  in  the  mean  time  that  the  lords  should  come 
up  the  hill  to  the  part  where  their  adversaries  were  camped. 

When  the  Queen  understood  that  the  laird  of  Grange  vvas 
chief  of  that  company  of  horsemen,  she  sent  the  laird  of  Ormiston 
to  desire  him  to  come  and  speak  with  her  under  surety  ;  which 
he  did,  after  he  had  acquainted  the  lords  with  her  desire,  and  had 
obtained  their  permission.  .As  he  was  speaking  with  her  Majesty, 
the  earl  of  Bothwell  had  appointed  a  soldier  to  shoot  him,  until  the 
Queen  gave  a  cry,  and  said  that  he  would  not  do  her  that  shame, 

91 


THE  MEMOIRS  OF 


seeing  she  had  promised  that  he  should  come  and  return  safely. 
He  was  declaiing  unto  the  Queen,  that  all  of  them  were  ready  to 
honour  and  serve  her,  upon  condition  that  she  would  abandon 
the  earl  of  Bothwell,  who  had  murdered  her  husband,  and  could 
not  be  a  husband  unto  her,  who  had  but  lately  married  the  earl  of 
Huntly's  sister.  The  earl  of  Bothwell  hearkned,  and  heard  part  of 
this  language,  and  offered  the  combat  to  any  who  would  maintain 
that  he  had  murdered  the  King.  The  laird  of  Grange  promised 
to  send  him  an  answer  shortly  thereunto.  So  he  took  his  leave  of 
the  Queen,  and  went  down  the  hill  to  the  lords  ;  who  were  content 
that  the  laird  of  Grange  should  fight  with  him  in  that  quarrel  ; 
for  he  first  offered  himself,  and  acquainted  Bothwell  that  he  would 
fight  with  him  upon  that  quarrel.  The  earl  of  Bothwell  answered, 
That  he  was  neither  earl  nor  lord,  but  a  baron  ;  and  so  was  not 
his  equal.  The  like  answer  made  he  to  TuUibardine.  Then 
my  lord  Lindsay  offered  to  fight  him  ;  which  he  could  not  well 
refuse  :  but  his  heart  failed  him,  and  he  grew  cold  in  the  business. 
Then  the  Queen  sent  again  for  the  laird  of  Grange,  and  said  to 
him,  That  if  the  lords  would  do  as  he  had  spoken  to  her,  she  should 
put  av.'ay  the  earl  of  Bothwell,  and  come  unto  them.  Whereupon 
he  asked  the  lords,  if  he  might  in  their  name  make  her  Aiajesty 
that  promise  :  which  they  commissioned  him  to  do.  Then  he 
rode  up  again,  and  saw  the  earl  of  Bothwell  part  ;  and  came  down 
again,  and  assured  the  lords  thereof.  They  desired  him  to  go 
up  the  hill  again,  and  receive  the  Queen  .  who  met  him,  and  said. 
Laird  of  Grange,  I  render  myself  unto  you,  upon  the  conditions 
you  rehearsed  unto  me  in  the  name  of  the  lords.  Whereupon 
she  gave  him  her  hand  ;  which  he  kissed,  leading  her  Majesty's 
horse  by  the  bridle  down  the  hill  unto  the  lords  ;  who  came 
forward  and  met  her. 

The  noblemen  used  all  dutiful  reverence  ;  but  -ome  of  the 
rascals  cried  out  against  her  despightfully,  till  the  laird  of  Grange 
and  others  who  knew  their  duty  better,  drew  their  swords,  and 
struck  at  such  as  did  speak  irreverent  language  ;  which  the  nobility 
well  allowed  of.  Her  Majesty  was  that  night  convoyed  to  Edin- 
burgh, and  lodged  in  the  inidst  of  the  town,  in  the  provost's 
lodging.  As  she  came  through  the  town,  the  common  people 
cried  out  against  her  Majesty  at  the  windows  and  stairs  ;  which 
was  a  pity  to  hear.  Her  Majesty  again  cried  out  to  all  gentlemen 
and  others,  who  passed  up  and  down  the  streets,  declaring  how  that 
she  was  their  native  princess,  and  that  she  doubted  not  but  all 
honest  subjects  would  respect  her  as  they  ought  to  do,  and  not 
suffer  her  to  be  abused.  Others  again  evidenced  their  malice. 
in  setting  up  a  banner  or  ensign,  whereupon  the  King  was  painted 
lying  dead  under  a  tree,  and  the  young  prince  upon  his  knees 
praying,  "  Judge  and  revenge  my  cause,  O  Lord."  That  same 
night  it  was  alledged  that  her  Majesty  did  write  a  letter  unto  the 
earl  of  Bothwell,  and  promised  a  reward  to  one  of  her  keepers  to 
convoy  it  securely  to  Dunbar  unto  the  said  eail,  calling  him  her 

92 


SIR  JAMES  MELVILLE 


dear  heart,  •whom  she  should  never  forget  nor  abandon,  though 
she  was  necessitated  to  be  absent  from  him  for  the  time  ;   saying,, 
that  she  had  sent  him  away  only  f  r  his  safety,  willing  him  to  be 
comforted,  and  be  upon  his  guard  :    which  letter  the  knave  de- 
livered to  the  lords,  though  he  had  promised  the  contrary.     Upon 
which  letter  the  lords  took  occasion  to  send  her  to  Lochlevin  to  be 
kept :    which  she  alledged  was  contrary  to  promise.     They  ort 
the  other  hand  affirmed,  tliat  by  her  own  hand-writing  she  had 
declared,  that  she  had  not,  nor  would  not  abandon  the  earl  of 
Bothwell.     Grange  again  excused  her,  alledging  she  had  in  effect 
abandoned  the  said  earl  ;  that  it  was  no  wonder  that  she  gave  him 
yet  a   few  fair  words,  not  doubting  but  if  she  were  discreetly 
handled,  and  humbly  admonished  what  inconveniencies  that  man 
had  brought  upon  her,  she  would  by  degrees  be  brought,  not  only 
to  leave  him,  but  ere  long  to  detest  him  :  and  therefore  he  advised 
to  deal  gently  with  her.     But  they  said,  That  it  stood  them  upon 
their  lives  and  lands,  and  that  therefore  in  the  mean  time  they 
behoved  to  secure  her  ;   and  when  that  time  came  that  she  should 
be  known  to  abandon  and  detest  the  earl  Bothwell,  it  would  be 
then  time  to  reason  upon  the  matter.     Grange  was  yet  so  angry, 
that  had  it  not  been  for  the  letter,  he  had  instantly  left  them.  : 
and,  for  the  next  best,  he  used  all  possible  diligence  to  make  her 
and  them  both  quit  of  the  said  earl,  causing  to  make  ready  two 
ships  to  follow  after  him,  who  had  fled  to  the  castle  of  Dunbar, 
and  from  thence  to  Schetland.     In  the  mean  time  her  Majesty 
sent  a  letter  to  the  laird  of  Grange,  lamenting  her  hard  usage, 
and  shewing  him  that  promises  had  been  broken  to  her.     Where- 
unto  he  answered,  That  he  had  already  reproached  the  lords  for  the 
same  ;   who  shewed  unto  him  a  letter  sent  by  her  unto  the  earl  of 
Bothwell,  promising,  among  many  other  fair  and   comfortable 
■words,  never  to  abandon  or  forget  him  ;    which  had  stopped  his 
mouth,  marvelling  that  her  Majesty  considered  not,  that  the  said 
earl  could  never  be  her  lawful  husband,  being  so  lately  before 
married  with  another,  whom  he  had  deserted  without  any  just 
ground,  although  he  had  not  been  so  hated  for  the  murder  of  the 
King  her  husband  :    and  therefore  he  requested  her  Majesty  to 
put  him  clean  out  of  mind,  seeing  otherwise  she  could  never  get 
the  love  or  respect  of  her  subjects,  nor  have  that  obedience  paid 
her  which  othenvise  she  might  expect.    It  contained  many  other 
loving  and  humble  admonitions,  which  made  her  bitterly  to  weep  : 
for  she  could  not  do  that  so  hastily,  which  process  of  time  might 
have  accomplished. 

Now  the  laird  of  Grange's  two  ships  being  in  readiness,  he 
made  sail  toward  Orkney  ;  and  no  man  was  so  frank  to  accompany 
him  as  the  laird  of  TuUibardine,  and  Adam  Bothwell  bishop  of 
Orkney.  But  the  earl  was  fled  from  Orkney  to  Schetland  : 
whither  also  they  followed  him,  and  came  in  sight  of  Bothwell's 
ship  ;  which  moved  the  laird  of  Grange  to  cause  the  skipper  to 
hoise  up  all  the  sails  :   which  they  were  loath  to  do,  because  they 

H  93 


THE  MEMOIRS  OF 


knew  the  shallow  water  thereabout.  But  Grange  fearing  to  miss 
him  compelled  the  mariners  ;  so  that  for  too  great  haste,  the  ship 
wherein  Grange  was,  did  break  upon  a  bed  of  sand,  without  loss 
of  a  man.  But  Bothwell  had  leisure  in  the  mean  time  to  save 
himself  in  a  little  boat,  leaving  his  ship  behind  him  :  which 
Grange  took,  and  therein  the  laird  of  Tallow,  John  Hepburn  of 
Bouton,  Dalgleish,  and  divers  others  of  the  earl's  servants.  Him- 
self fled  to  Denmark,  where  he  was  taken,  and  kept  in  strait 
prison  ;  wherein  he  became  mad,  and  died  miserably.  But 
Grange  came  back  again  with  Bothwell 's  ship  and  servants,  who 
were  the  first  who  gave  information  of  the  manner  of  the  murder  ; 
which  the  lords  thought  fit  to  let  the  King  of  France  understand, 
and  of  their  diligence,  according  to  the  promise  made  by  them. 

My  lord  of  Murray  had  obtained  liberty  to  pass  into  France 
shortly  after  tie  murder  of  the  King  ;  for  he  did  foresee  the  great 
trouble  like  to  ensue.  The  rest  of  the  lords  enterprizers,  after 
they  had  secured  the  Queen  in  Lochlevin,  began  to  consult  how 
to  get  her  Majesty  counselled  to  demit  the  government  to  the 
prince  her  son  ;  and  for  that  effect  they  dealt  first  with  my 
brother  Sir  Robert,  because  he  was  sometimes  allowed  access 
to  her  Majesty  :  and  after  that  he  had  refused  flatly  to  meddle 
in  that  matter,  they  were  minded  to  send  the  lord  Lindsay,  first 
to  use  fair  persuasions,  and  in  case  he  could  not  speed  that  way, 
they  were  resolved  to  enter  in  harder  terms.  The  earls  of  Athole, 
Mar,  and  secretary  Lidington,  and  the  laird  of  Grange,  who 
loved  her  Majesty,  advised  my  brother  to  tell  her  the  verity,  and 
how  that  anything  she  did  in  prison  could  not  prejudge  her, 
being  once  again  at  liberty.  He  answered,  he  would  give  no  such 
advice  as  coming  from  himself,  but  he  should  tell  it  as  the  opinion 
of  those  he  knew  to  be  her  true  friends.  But  she  refused  utterly 
to  follow  that  advice,  till  she  heard  that  the  lord  Lindsay  was  at 
the  new  house  at  the  shore  coming  in,  and  in  a  very  boasting 
humour  :  and  then  she  yielded  to  the  necessity  of  the  time,  and 
told  my  brother  that  she  would  not  strive  with  them,  seeing  it 
could  do  her  no  harm  when  she  was  at  liberty.  So  at  my  lord 
Lindsay's  coming,  she  subscribed  the  signature  of  renunciation 
and  demission  of  the  government  to  the  prince,  and  certain  lords, 
named  in  the  said  signature,  to  be  regents  to  the  prince  and 
country  ;  her  Majesty  desiring  my  lord  Murray,  who  was  absent 
in  France,  to  be  the  first  regent. 

This  being  past,  the  lords  concluded  to  crown  the  prince  ; 
and  sent  letters  to  France  to  the  earl  of  Murray  to  come  home. 
In  the  mean  time  there  were  a  number  of  lords  convened  at 
Hamilton,  as  my  lord  Hamilton,  my  lord  Paisley,  John  Hamilton 
bishop  of  St.  Andrews,  my  lord  Fleming,  Bold,  and  divers  others, 
to  whom  the  lords  who  were  to  crown  the  prince  would  have  sent 
me  commissioner.  Which  commission  at  the  first  I  refused  ; 
but  afterwards  I  accepted  thereof  at  the  advice  of  secretary 
Lidington,  the  laird  of  Grange,  and  other  secret  favourers  of  the 

94 


SIR  JAMES  MELVILLE 


Queen,  who  judged  it  very  fit  that  the  whole  country'  should  be 
joined  together  in  quietness  ;  fearing  that  in  case  civil  wars 
entred  among  them,  it  might  endanger  her  Majesty's  life  :  for 
it  was  judged  that  those  who  were  at  Hamilton  appeared  to  lean 
to  the  Queen. 

At  my  coming  to  Hamilton,  I  told  them  my  commission  in  the 
name  of  the  other  lords.  How  that  the  King  being  murdered,  all 
neighbour  nations  cried  out  upon  the  whole  kingdom,  hut 
especially  tlie  King  of  France  and  the  Queen  of  England  soUicited 
them  to  enquire  after,  and  punish  the  murderers  :  how  that  they 
had  found  that  it  was  the  earl  of  Bothwell,  and  some  of  them  who 
had  assisted  him,  who  were  punished  ;  and  what  was  past  since 
thereupon  was  known  to  the  whole  country  :  that  the  Queen's 
Majesty  had  demitted  over  the  government  to  the  prince  her  son, 
whom  they  were  minded  to  crown  shortly  ;  whereof  they  thought 
fit  to  warn  all  the  nobility,  as  being  resolved  to  prejudge  no  noble- 
man of  his  rights,  titles  or  prerogatives  ;  requesting  them  who  were 
there  convened  to  come  to  Stirling,  and  be  present  at  the  said 
coronation,  for  retaining  their  own  privileges,  the  peace  and  quiet 
of  the  whole  country.  Some  of  the  younger  lords  answered,  and 
said.  That  they  would  not  believe  that  the  Queen's  Majesty  had 
demitted  the  government  ;  and  if  she  had  done  it,  it  would  be 
found  for  to  save  her  life.  But  the  bishop,  who  had  more  ex- 
perience than  they,  reproved  them,  and  said  that  those  noblemen 
had  dealt  very  reasonably  and  discreetly  with  them.  So  he  drew 
the  rest  aside  to  advise,  and  then  returned  and  gave  me  this 
answer  : 

"  We  are  beholden  to  the  noblemen  who  have  sent  you  with 
"  that  friendly  and  discreet  commission  ;  and,  follov/ing  their 
"  desire,  we  are  ready  to  concur  with  them,  if  they  give  us  sufficient 
"  security  of  that  which  you  have  said  in  their  name  ;  and  in  so 
"  doing,  they  give  us  occasion  to  construct  the  best  of  all  their 
"  proceedings  past  and  to  come  :  so  that  if  they  had  acquainted 
"  us  with  their  first  enterprize  of  punishing  the  murder,  we  should 
"  heartily  have  taken  part  with  them.  And  whereas  now  we  are 
"  here  convened,  it  is  not  to  pursue  or  offend  any  of  them,  but  to 
"  be  upon  our  own  guards,  notwithstanding  of  so  great  a  concourse 
"  of  noblemen,  barons,  burroughs,  and  other  subjects  :  for  not 
"  being  made  privy  to  their  enterprize,  we  thought  fit  to  draw 
"  ourselves  together,  till  we  should  see  whereto  things  would 
"  turn." 

When  I  returned  back  to  Stirling,  and  declared  this  answer, 
it  was  judged  satisfactory  by  all  wise  and  honest-hearted  men  ; 
but  others  said,  That  however  they  minded  to  do,  I  had  painted 
out  a  fair  story  for  them,  and  in  their  favours  :  so  that  I  perceived 
them  already  divided  in  factions  and  opinions.  For  so  many  of 
our  lords  as  leaned  to  England  desired  not  the  stability  of  our 
state  ;  others  had  particular  prejudices  and  designs  against  the 
Hamiltons,  and  expected  to  get  them  ruined,  to  gain  advantage 

95 


THE  MEMOIRS  OF 


to  themselves  by  fishing  in  troubled  waters  :  so  that  the  Hamiltons 
were  ill  used  ;  for  they  would  fain  have  agreed  with  the  rest,  but 
their  friendship  and  society  was  plainly  refused  at  this  time,  and 
they  not  permitted  to  come  to  the  coronation,  nor  yet  to  take 
instruments  that  they  should  not  be  prejudged  in  any  sort  ;  which 
occasioned  great  trouble  afterward  in  the  country.  For  they 
perceiving  themselves  cast  off,  and  their  friendship  and  assistance 
refused,  endeavoured  for  their  own  security  and  defence  to  draw 
in  other  noblemen  and  barons  to  join  with  them,  who  had  not  as 
yet  joined  with  the  other  lords,  and  therefore  were  the  more  easily 
drawn  upon  that  side,  (and  these  were  afterward  called  the  Queen's 
lords)  when  they  were  convinced  of  the  bad  usage  the  Hamiltons 
had  received. 

I  have  before  related  that  my  lord  Murray  v/as  written  for  to 
come  home  ;  and  so  soon  as  he  came  to  London  the  lords  were 
thereof  advertised,  who  desired  me  to  ride  and  meet  him  at 
Berwick,  and  shew  him  how  that  the  office  of  regent  was  appointed 
for  him.  Which  journey  I  accepted  with  the  better  will,  in  that 
some  friends  who  were  best  inclined,  thought  meet  to  give  him 
good  counsel  in  due  time.  My  commission  from  the  lords  was  to 
inform  him  of  all  their  proceedings,  and  of  the  present  estate, 
and  to  desire  him  to  do  nothing  without  their  knowledge  vv^ith  the 
Queen  :  for  they  feared  that  he  might  carry  himself  with  that 
mildness  toward  her,  as  to  oblige  her  to  believe  he  intended  some 
time  to  release  her  ;  and  that  he  would  not  run  so  hard  a  course 
against  her,  as  some  of  them  would  had  him  to  do.  Another  part 
of  the  said  lords  (that  did  still  bear  a  great  love  unto  the  Queen, 
and  had  compassion  upon  her  estate,  and  who  entred  upon  that 
enterprize  only  for  safety  of  the  prince,  and  punishment  of  the 
King's  murder,  as  the  earl  of  Mar,  the  earl  of  Athole,  the  secretary 
Lidington,  the  lairds  of  TuUibardine  and  Grange)  sent  their 
instructions  with  me  to  my  lord  of  Murray,  praying  him  in  their 
name  to  behave  himself  gently  and  humbly  unto  the  Queen,  and 
to  procure  so  much  favour  for  her  as  he  could.  Not  that  they 
would  advise  him  to  forget  any  part  of  honest  duty  to  the  lords, 
so  long  as  they  kept  touch  with  him  ;  but  that  in  case  they,  or 
any  part  of  them  would  be  offended  at  him  afterwards,  for  the 
refusal  of  some  casualty,  benefice,  or  the  like,  they  would  come  to 
themselves  again,  seeing  the  Queen  and  him  iv.  so  good  terms, 
iest  he  should  set  her  at  liberty  upon  account  of  their  misbehaviour. 
And  further,  that  her  Majesty  being  nov^'  free  of  ill  company, 
and  of  a  cleat  wit  and  princely  inclination,  was  beginning  already 
to  repent  her  of  many  things  past,  and  time  might  bring  about 
such  occasions  as  they  should  all  wish  her  at  liberty  to  n.ile  over 
them  ;  and  that  in  that  case,  he  would  not  lose  by  his  discreet  and 
friendly  behaviour  to  her.  He  appeared  much  to  relish  this 
advice,  but  he  seemed  somewhat  refractory  of  accepting  the 
government,  refusing  it  plainly  at  first,  albeit  I  was  informed  by 
some  of  his  company,  that  he  was  right  glad  when  he  understood 

96 


SIR  JAMES  MELVILLE 


first  that  he  was  to  be  recent.  There  came  home  with  him  a 
French  anibassador  of  my  acquaintance,  who  was  sent  to  see  how 
matters  past,  to  comfort  the  captive  Queen,  and  to  intercede  for 
her  ;  but  he  did  very  slenderly  :  for  he  said  to  the  lords,  he  came 
not  to  offend  any  of  them,  alledging  that  the  old  band  and  league 
betwixt  France  and  Scotland  was  not  made  with  any  one  prince, 
but  betwixt  the  estates  of  the  two  kingdoms,  and  with  those  who 
were  commanders  over  the  country  for  the  time. 

After  that  my  lord  of  Murray  had  met  with  all  his  friends,  he 
granted  to  accept  the  government.  But  when  he  went  to  see  the 
Queen  in  Lochlevin,  instead  of  comforting  her,  and  following 
the  good  counsel  he  had  gotten,  he  entred  instantly  with  her 
Majesty  in  reproaches,  giving  her  such  injurious  language  as  was 
like  to  break  her  heart.  We  who  found  fault  with  that  manner  of 
procedure,  lost  his  favour.  The  injuries  were  such,  that  they 
cut  the  thread  of  love  and  credit  betwixt  the  Queen  and  him  for 
ever. 

You  have  heard  how  that  the  lords  who  were  in  Hamilton  were 
cast  off,  and  refused  to  be  accepted  into  society  with  the  rest, 
against  the  opinion  cf  the  fewest  in  number,  though  the  wisest 
men  and  least  factious.  But  the  worst-inclined  and  manyest 
votes  obtained  their  intent.  Whereupon  the  lords  who  were 
refused  to  be  brought  into  friendship  drew  themselves  together 
in  Dunbarton,  under  the  pretext  to  procure  by  force  of  arms  the 
Queen  their  sovereign's  liberty,  and  banded  themselves  together 
against  the  King's  lords  ;  which  they  would  not  have  done,  if 
they  could  have  been  accepted  in  society  with  the  rest.  Albeit 
their  publick  professing  their  intention  of  spending  their  lives  for 
the  Queen's  libertj'  put  her  Majest>''s  life  in  greater  danger,  so 
long  as  she  was  captive  in  the  hands  of  the  contrary  party,  and  was 
at  length  her  Majesty's  utter  wreck.  For  the  hope  that  she  had  to 
get  friends  and  favourers  caused  her  to  use  means  to  escape  out 
of  Lochlevin  too  hastily,  ere  the  time  was  ripe  enough  to  recover 
again  the  hearts  of  the  subjects,  who  were  yet  alienated.  For 
albeit  my  lord  regent  was  rigorous,  he  was  flexi'ole  and  might 
have  been  won  through  process  of  time  by  her  wisdom  and  the 
interest  of  her  friends.     The  tenor  of  their  bond  was  as  foUoweth  : 


"  1  ^Orasmuch  as  considering  the  Queen's  Majesty  our 
§-^  "  sovereign  to  be  detained  at  present  at  Lochlevin  in 
A  "  captivity,  wherefore  the  most  part  of  her  Majesty's 
"  lieges  cannot  have  free  access  to  her  highness  ;  and  seeing  it 
"  becomes  us  of  our  duty  to  seek  her  liberty  and  freedom  :  we 
"  earls,  lords  and  barons  under  subscribing,  promise  faithfully 
"  to  use  the  outmost  of  our  endeavours  by  all  reasonable  means 
"  to  procure  her  Majesty's  liberty  and  freedom,  upon  such 
"  honest  conditions  as  may  stand  with  her  Majesty's  honour, 

97 


THE  MEMOIRS  OF 


"  the  common  weal  of  the  whole  realm,  and  security  of  the  whole 
"  nobility  who  at  present  have  her  Majesty  in  keeping  ;  whereby 
"  this  our  native  realm  may  be  governed,  ruled  and  guided  by  her 
"  Majesty  and  her  nobility,  for  the  common  quietness,  the  ad- 
"  ministration  of  justice,  and  weal  of  the  country.  And  in  case 
"  the  noblemen  who  have  her  Majesty  at  present  in  their  hands 
"  refuse  to  set  her  at  liberty,  upon  such  reasonable  conditions  as 
*'  said  is,  in  that  case  we  shall  employ  ourselves,  our  kindred, 
"  friends,  servants,  and  partakers,  our  bodies  and  lives,  to  set  her 
"  highness  at  liberty,  as  said  is  ;  and  also  to  concur  to  the  punish- 
"  ment  of  the  inurder  of  the  King  her  Majesty's  husband  ;  and 
"  for  sure  preservation  of  the  person  of  the  prince,  as  we  shall 
"  answer  to  God,  and  on  our  honours  and  credit  :  and  to  that 
"  effect  shall  concur  every  one  with  other  at  our  utmost  power. 
"  And  if  any  shall  set  upon  us,  or  any  of  us,  for  the  doing  as  afore- 
"  said  ;  in  that  case,  we  promise  faithfully  to  espouse  one  another's 
*'  interest,  under  pain  of  perjury  and  infamy,  as  we  shall  answer  to 
"  God.  In  witness  whereof,  we  have  subscribed  tliese  presents 
"  with  our  hand,  at  Dunbarton,  the  day 

"of 

St.  Andrews.  Fleming. 

Argile.  Herns. 

Huntly.  Skirling. 

Arbroath.  Kilwonning. 

Galloway.  Will.  Hamilton  of  Sanchar, 

Ross.  knight. 

This  small  number  were  the  first  who  banded  themselves 
together,  and  afterward  all  those  who  were  male-contents,  or  had 
any  particular  questions,  claims,  or  feuds  with  any  of  the  King's 
lords,  drew  to  these  new  confederates,  hoping  by  time  to  win 
their  intent  against  their  adversaries,  in  case  their  faction  might 
prevail.  And  some  drew  to  both  the  factions,  who  neither  desired 
to  see  the  kirk  nor  country  in  any  established  estate. 

The  court  of  England,  on  the  other  hand,  left  nothing  undone 
to  kindle  the  fire,  and  to  furnish  both  the  factions  with  hope  of 
assistance  in  case  of  need.  For  oft  times  by  their  ambassadors 
ordinary  who  were  resident  here,  they  upon  some  new  occasion 
would  send  in  another  openly  to  deal  with  the  King's  faction, 
because  it  was  strongest  and  greatest  ;  and  under-hand  to  deal 
with  the  Queen's  faction,  and  alledge  that  their  quarrel  was  most 
just  and  right,  and  that  her  Majesty's  authority  was  only  lawful. 
No  man  can  tell  this  better  than  I,  who  v/as  so  long  well  acquainted 
with  all  the  ambassadors  who  were  sent  to  Scotland,  during  their 
banishment  in  France  in  Queen  Mary's  time  ;  as  with  Mr. 
Randolph,  Sir  Nicholas  Throckmorton,  Mr.  Dayson,  Mr.  Kille- 
grew,  and  the  marshal  of  Berwick.  Among  the  which  number  Sir 
Nicholas  Throckmorton  dealt  most  honestly  and  plainly,  for  he 

98 


SIR  JAMES  MELVILLE 


shot  at  the  union  of  the  whole  isle  in  one  monarchy  ;  and  thought 
that  it  only  consisted  in  the  persons  of  two  for  the  time,  to  wit,  the 
Queen,  and  the  King  her  son.  And  when  he  saw  Mr.  Randolph 
go  about  to  sow  discord,  he  declared  the  same  to  my  brother  and 
me,  and  detested  him  for  his  devilish  intent  and  dealing  :  yea  he 
detested  the  whole  council  of  England  for  the  time,  and  told 
us  friendly  what  reasoning  they  held  among  themselves  for  that 
effect,  to  wit,  how  that  one  of  their  greatest  counsellors  proposed 
openly  to  the  rest,  that  it  was  needful  for  the  welfare  of  England 
to  foster  and  nourish  with  some  help  the  civil  wars,  as  well  in 
France,  Flanders,  as  Scotland,  whereby  England  might  have  many 
advantages,  and  be  sought  after  by  all  parties,  and  in  the  mean 
time  live  at  rest  and  gather  great  riches  themselves.  This  advice 
and  proposition  was  well  allowed  of  by  most  part  of  the  council, 
yet  one  honest  councellor  stood  up  and  said,  That  it  was  a  very 
worldly  advice,  and  had  little  or  nothing  to  do  with  a  christian 
commonwealth,  nor  yet  would  it  be  found  profitable  in  all  points. 
First  he  said,  it  is  worldly  and  not  godly  ;  for  though  I  grant,  said 
he,  that  France,  which  is  so  potent  a  kingdom,  if  it  knew  its  own 
strength  might  suppress  all  its  neighbours,  and  therefore  would 
be  so  handled  ;  yet  even  there  the  fire  would  die  out  incontinent, 
except  the  prince  of  Conde  were  better  furnished  and  helped. 
As  for  Flanders,  he  said,  that  the  trouble  was  prejudical  to  England, 
because  by  the  wars  in  Flanders,  England's  great  traffick  of  mer- 
chandize is  hindred,  whereby  they  have  greatest  gain.  As  for 
Scotland,  he  said  it  was  against  their  weal  to  hold  them  in 
dissention,  so  long  as  my  lord  of  Murray  was  regent,  who  was 
their  friend,  and  would  be  ready  to  assist  them  with  his  power  in 
their  necessity.  Another  counsellor  affirmed  that  to  be  true, 
but  if  my  lord  Murray  were  dead,  Scotland  behoved  likewise  to 
be  kept  in  hot  water.  Which  conclusion  was  commonly  followed 
afterward,  and  was  soon  discovered  by  the  wisest  of  our  country 
•who  were  not  factious  ;  but  too  late  by  the  rest  of  the  raging 
multitude,  who  through  process  of  time  were  so  battered  one 
against  another,  ere  the  play  was  ended,  that  they  would  have 
eaten  one  another  with  their  teeth. 

Now  my  lord  of  Murray  having  accepted  the  government 
upon  him,  pressed  to  ha\^  the  strengths  in  his  hands,  as  the 
castles  of  Edinburgh,  Dunbar,  and  Dunbarton.  The  castle  of 
Edinburgh  was  still  in  the  hands  of  Sir  James  Balfour,  who  had 
assisted  the  noblemen  who  had  pursued  the  murder,  and  now  took 
plain  part  with  them,  and  likewise  assisted  the  new  made  regent. 
Yet  he  desired  to  have  the  castle  out  of  his  hands  ;  which  he  was 
content  to  deliver  up  upon  condition  that  the  laird  of  Grange 
should  be  made  captain  thereof,  upon  the  constancy  of  whose 
friendship  he  reposed  most  ;  which  was  easily  granted  by  the 
regent,  and  all  the  rest.  After  this,  the  other  strengths  were 
also  rendred  to  him.  Then  he  took  great  pains  to  steal  secret 
roads   upon   tlie  thieves  on   the  borders,   tending  much  to   the 

99 


THE  MEMOIRS  OF 


quieting  thereof.  He  likewise  held  justice  ayres  in  the  in-country  : 
But  was  not  so  diligent  as  he  might  have  been  in  settling  the 
■differences  among  the  nobility,  and  to  draw  them,  by  a  sweet  and 
•discreet  equitable  behaviour,  to  the  obedience  of  the  King's 
authority.  Which  might  have  been  easily  done,  if  they  had  gotten 
security  for  their  persons  and  estates.  But  such  as  were  about 
him,  having  their  own  ambitious  and  covetous  ends,  counselled 
him  otherwise,  thinking  by  the  wreck  of  others  to  make  up  them- 
selves. They  were  so  blinded  by  their  affections  and  greedy 
appetites,  that  they  thought  all  would  succeed  prosperously 
according  to  their  desires,  without  any  resistance.  Thus  rushing 
forward,  the  regent's  rough  proceedings  gave  occasion  to  many 
to  draw  to  the  contrary  faction.  And  they  to  strengthen  them- 
selves under  the  name  of  authority,  devised  how  to  draw  the 
Queen's  Majesty  out  of  Lochlevin  to  be  their  head  before  the  time 
was  ripe  ;  whereof  the  regent  was  oft  and  frequently  warned,  even 
by  divers  who  were  upon  the  counsel  of  her  out-taking,  who 
desired  that  way  to  win  thanks  at  his  hands.  But  he  would  credit 
nothing,  but  such  things  as  came  out  of  the  mouths  of  those  who 
had  crept  into  his  favour  by  flattery. 

In  the  mean  time  the  Queen  was  convoyed  out  of  Lochlevin 
by  George  Douglas  the  laird's  brother,  and  the  regent's  half 
brother,  who  was  for  the  time  in  some  evil  terms  with  them. 
The  old  lady  his  mother  was  also  thought  to  be  upon  the  counsel. 
My  lord  Seaton  and  some  of  the  house  of  Hamilton,  and  divers 
of  their  dependers,  received  her  Majesty  at  her  landing  out  of  the 
Loch,  and  convoyed  her  to  Hamilton. 

'•  The  regent  being  for  the  time  at  Glasgow  holding  justice  ayres, 
proclamations  and  missives  were  incontinently  sent  abroad  by 
both  sides  to  convene  so  many  as  would  act  for  them  in  the  country. 
A  French  ambassador  was  come  to  Edinburgh  ten  days  before, 
called  Monsieur  de  Beaumont,  knight  of  the  order  of  the  cockle, 
whom  I  had  convoyed  to  Glasgow,  and  had  procured  to  him  a 
sight  of  the  Queen  while  captive.  He  said  to  me,  that  he  never 
did  see  so  many  men  so  suddenly  convened  ;  for  he  rode  to 
Hamilton  to  the  Queen,  and  dealt  between  the  parties  for  peace, 
but  was  not  heard.  Her  Majesty  was  not  minded  to  fight,  nor 
hazard  battle,  but  to  go  unto  the  castle  of  Dunbarton,  and  en- 
deavour by  little  and  little  to  draw  home  again  unto  her  obedience 
the  whole  subjects.  But  the  bishop  of  St.  Andrews,  and  the 
house  of  Hamilton,  and  the  rest  of  the  lords  there  convened, 
finding  themselves  in  number  far  beyond  the  other  party,  would 
needs  hazard  a  battle,  thinking  thereby  to  overcome  the  regent 
their  great  enemy,  and  be  also  masters  of  the  Queen,  to  command 
and  rule  all  at  their  pleasure.  Some  alledged  that  the  bishop 
was  minded  to  cause  the  Queen  to  marry  my  lord  Hamilton,  in 
case  they  had  obtained  the  victory.  And  I  was  since  informed  by 
some  who  were  present,  that  the  Queen  herself  feared  the  same, 
therefore  she  pressed  them  still  to  convoy  her  to  Dunbarton,  and 

lOO 


SIR  JAMES  MELVILLE 


had  sent  me  word  with  the  French  ambassador  the  same  morning 
before  the  battle,  to  draw  on  a  meeting  for  concord,  by  the  means 
of  the  secretary  Lidington  and  the  laird  of  Grange  :  and  for  her 
part  she  would  send  the  lord  Herreis  and  some  other.  She  had 
also  caused  my  brother  Sir  Robert  to  write  a  letter  to  me  that  same 
morning,  for  that  same  effect  ;  but  the  Queen's  army  came  on  so 
fiercely  that  there  was  no  stay. 

The  regent  went  out  on  foot,  and  all  his  company  except  the 
laird  of  Grange,  Alexander  Hume  of  Manderston,  and  some 
borderers  to  the  number  of  200.  The  laird  of  Grange  had  already 
viewed  the  ground,  and  with  all  imaginable  diligence  caused  every 
horseman  to  take  behind  him  a  footman  of  the  regent's  to  guard 
behind  them,  and  rode  with  speed  to  the  head  of  the  Langside 
hill,  and  set  down  the  said  footmen  with  their  culverins  at  the 
head  of  a  strait  lane,  where  there  were  some  cottage  houses  and 
yards  of  great  advantage.  Which  soldiers  with  their  continual 
shot,  killed  divers  of  the  vauntguard  led  by  the  Hamiltons,  who 
courageously  and  fiercely  ascending  up  the  hill,  were  already  out 
of  breath  when  the  regent's  vauntguard  joined  with  them.  Where 
the  worthy  lord  Hume  fought  on  foot  with  his  pike  in  his  hand 
very  manfully,  well  assisted  by  the  laird  of  Cesford  his  brother- 
in-law,  who  helped  him  up  again,  when  he  was  struckcn  to  the 
ground  with  many  stroakes  upon  his  face,  by  the  throwing  pistols 
at  him  after  they  had  been  discharged.  He  was  also  wounded  with 
staves,  and  had  many  stroakes  of  speais  through  his  legs  ;  for  he 
and  Grange,  at  the  joining,  cried  to  let  their  adversaries  first  lay 
down  their  spears,  to  bear  up  theirs  ;  which  spears  were  so  thick 
fixed  in  others  jacks,  that  some  of  the  pistols  and  great  staves, 
that  were  thrown  by  them  which  were  behind,  might  be  seen 
lying  upon  the  spears. 

Upon  the  Queen's  side  the  earl  of  Argile  commanded  the 
battle  ;  and  the  lord  of  Arbroath  the  vauntguard.  On  the  other 
part  the  regent  led  the  battle  ;  and  the  earl  of  Morton  the  vaunt- 
guard. But  the  regent  committed  to  the  laird  of  Grange  the 
special  care,  as  being  an  experimented  captain,  to  oversee  every 
danger,  and  to  ride  to  every  wing,  to  encourage  and  rnake  help 
where  greatest  need  was.  He  perceived  at  the  first  joining,  the 
right  wing  of  the  regent's  vauntguard  put  back,  and  like  to  fly, 
whereof  the  greatest  part  were  commons  of  the  barony  of  Ren- 
frew ;  whereupon  he  rode  to  them,  and  told  them  that  their 
enemy  was  already  turning  their  backs,  requested  them  to  stay 
and  debate,  till  he  should  bring  them  fresh  men  forth  of  the  battle. 
Whither  at  full  speed  he  did  ride  alone,  and  told  the  regent  that 
the  enemy  were  shaken,  and  flying  away  behind  the  little  village, 
and  desired  a  few  number  of  fresh  men  to  go  with  him.  Where 
he  found  enough  willing,  as  the  lord  Lindsay,  the  laird  of  Loch- 
levin,  Sir  James  Balfour  and  all  the  regent's  serv'ants,  who  followed 
him  with  diligence,  and  reinforced  that  wing  which  was  beginning 
to  fly  ;  which  fresh  men  with  their  loose  weapons  struck  the  enemy 

lOI 


THE  MEMOIRS  OF 


in  their  flanks  and  faces,  which  forced  them  incontinent  to  give 
place  and  turn  back,  after  long  fighting  and  pushing  others  to  and 
fro  with  their  spears.  There  were  not  many  horsemen  to  pursue 
after  them  ;  and  the  regent  cried  to  save  and  not  to  kill  ;  and 
Grange  was  never  cruel,  so  that  there  were  but  few  slain  and  taken. 
And  the  only  slaughter  was  at  the  first  rencounter,  by  the  shot  of 
the  soldiers  which  Grange  had  planted  at  the  lane-head  behind 
some  dikes. 

After  the  loss  of  the  battle,  her  Majesty  lost  all  courage,  which 
she  had  never  done  before,  and  took  so  great  fear,  that  she  never 
rested  till  she  was  in  England,  thinking  herself  sure  of  refuge  there, 
in  respect  of  the  fair  promises  formerly  made  to  her  by  the  Queen 
of  England  by  word  to  her  ambassadors,  and  by  her  own  hand- 
writ  both  before  and  after  she  was  captive  in  Lochlevin.  But 
God  and  the  world  knows  how  she  was  kept  and  used  :  for  not 
only  she  refused  to  see  her,  of  whom  she  appeared  so  oft  so  de- 
sirous of  a  sight  and  a  meeting,  but  also  caused  to  keep  her  prisoner, 
and  at  length  suffered  her  life  to  be  taken  away,  or  else  it  was 
subtilly  taken  against  her  intention.  This  puts  me  in  remem- 
brance of  a  tale  that  my  brother  Sir  Robert  told  me  :  the  time  that 
he  was  busiest  dealing  betwixt  the  two  Queens  to  entertain  their 
friendship,  and  draw  on  their  meeting  at  a  place  near  York,  one 
Bassinton  a  Scotsman,  who  had  been  a  traveller,  and  was  learned 
in  high  sciences,  came  to  him  and  said,  Good  gentleman,  I  hear 
so  good  a  report  of  you,  that  I  love  you  heartily,  and  therefore 
cannot  forbear  to  shew  you,  how  that  all  your  upright  dealing 
and  honest  travel  will  be  in  vain  :  for  whereas  you  believe  to 
obtain  advantage  for  your  Queen  at  the  Queen  of  England's  hands, 
you  do  but  lose  your  time  and  your  travel  :  for  first  they  never 
will  meet  together,  and  next  there  will  never  be  anything  else  but 
dissembling  and  secret  hatred  for  a  while,  and  at  length  captivity 
and  utter  wreck  to  our  Queen  from  England.  My  brbther 
answered,  he  liked  not  to  hear  of  such  devilish  news,  nor  yet 
would  he  in  any  sort  credit  them,  as  being  false,  ungodly,  and  un- 
lawful for  christians  to  meddle  with.  Bassinton  answered, 
Good  Mr.  Melville,  entertain  not  that  harsh  opinion  of  me.  I  am 
a  christian  of  your  own  religion,  and  fear  God,  and  purpose  never 
to  cast  myself  on  any  of  the  unlawful  arts  that  you  mean  ;  but 
so  far  as  Melancton,  who  was  a  godly  theologue,  hath  declared 
lawful,  and  written  concerning  the  natural  sciences,  which  are 
lawful,  and  daily  read  in  divers  christian  universities,  in  the 
which,  as  in  all  other  arts,  God  gives  to  some  less  and  to  others 
clearer  knowledge,  by  the  which  knowledge  I  have  attained  to 
understand,  that  at  length  the  kingdom  of  England  shall  of  right 
fall  to  the  crown  of  Scotland,  and  that  at  this  instant  there  are 
some  born  who  shall  bruik  lands  and  heritages  in  England.  But 
alas,  it  will  cost  many  their  lives,  and  many  bloody  battles  will  be 
fought  ere  things  be  settled  or  take  effect  :  and  by  my  knowledge, 
says    he,  the  Spaniards  will  be  helpers,  and  will  take  a  part  to 

J  02 


SIR  JAMES  MELVILLE 


themselves  for  their  labour,  which  they  will  be  loath  to  leave 
again. 

After  that  the  Queen's  Majesty  had  demitted  the  government 
when  she  was  captive  in  Lochlevin,  in  such  manner  as  is  rehearsed, 
my  lord  of  Alurray  being  the  first  of  the  regents,  of  whom  I  have 
said  something  already  ;  I  intend  now  to  follow  forth,  and  shew 
a  part  of  his  proceedings,  and  to  begin  where  I  left,  at  her  JMajesty's 
retreat  to  England. 

After  the  battle  of  Langside,  the  regent  went  through  the 
country',  and  took  up  the  escheats  and  houses  of  those  who  had 
assisted  at  the  said  battle,  and  caused  to  cast  down  divers  of  their 
houses,  distributing  their  lands  to  his  servants  and  dependers. 

The  council  of  England  being  crafty,  and  in  fecial  the  secretary 
Cecil,  they  knew  what  kind  of  men  had  most  credit  about  him  for 
the  time,  and  thereupon  took  occasion  to  deal  with  the  least 
honest,  most  ambitious  and  covetous  of  that  number  and  society, 
who  had  joined  and  banded  themselves  together  to  assist  each 
other,  whereby  to  advance  themselves,  and  to  disgrace  all  such 
true  and  honest  men  as  had  assisted  and  helped  him  in  all  his 
former  troubles.  This  sort  of  men  were  soon  persuaded  and 
corrupted  to  move  the  regent  to  pass  into  England,  and  accuse 
their  native  Queen  before  the  Queen  and  council  of  England,  to 
the  great  dishonour  of  their  country  and  prince.  For  the  Queen 
of  England,  who  had  no  just  cause  to  retain  our  Queen,  who  had 
fled  to  England  in  hope  of  getting  shelter,  and  the  assistance  which 
had  been  so  oft  promised  her  both  before  and  after  her  captivity 
in  Lochlevin,  was  very  desirous  to  have  some  colour  and  pretext, 
whereby  she  might  make  answer  to  the  ambassadors  of  sundry 
princes,  who  reproached  her  for  her  unkindly  and  unprincely 
proceedings  therein. 

Because  the  most  part  of  those  who  had  the  regent's  ear  were 
gained  to  this  opinion,  and  the  number  few  who  were  of  a  contrary 
mind,  he  went  forward  to  England,  accompanied  with  the  earl  of 
Morton,  the  lord  Lindsay,  the  laird  of  Lochlevin,  the  bishop  of 
Orkney,  the  abbot  of  Dunfermling,  Mr.  James  Macgil,  Mr, 
Henry  Balnaves,  Mr.  George  Buchanan,  the  laird  of  Pittarrow, 
George  Douglas  bishop  of  Murray,  Mr.  John  Wood  the  regent's 
secretary,  a  great  ringleader,  Mr.  Nicholas  Elphinston,  secretary 
Lidington,  Alexander  Hay,  Alexander  Hume  of  Northberwick, 
the  laird  of  Cleesh,  with  divers  other  barons  and  gentlemen,  who 
went  there  to  see  the  fashion,  some  to  wait  upon  the  regent  and 
lords,  and  some,  who  could  not  get  the  regent  dissuaded  from 
this  extreme  folly  at  home,  went  with  him  to  England  to  see  if  by 
any  assistance  of  such  as  were  friends  there  to  the  union  of  the 
isle,  and  to  the  title  of  Scotland,  he  might  be  stayed  from  that 
accusation.  For  those  who  were  the  Queen's  lords,  who  came 
there  to  defend  the  Queen's  part,  had  no  credit  nor  familiarity 
with  the  chief  faction  in  England  concerning  the  title,  nor  durst 
open  their  minds  but  to  such  as  by  long  acquaintance  they  were 

103 


THE  MEMOIRS  OF 


well  assured  of  their  honesty  and  secrecy.  The  names  of  the 
Queen's  lords  were,  the  lord  Herreis,  the  lord  Boyd,  the  lord 
Fleming,  the  lord  Livingston,  the  bishop  of  Ross,  and  some 
others,  with  my  brother  Sir  Robert,  who  attended  to  do  all  the 
good  he  could. 

The  duke  of  Norfolk,  the  earl  of  Sussex,  and  several  other 
counsellors  were  sent  down  to  York  to  hear  the  regent's  accusation, 
and  to  be  as  judges  between  the  King  and  Queen's  lords. 

The  first  day  of  meeting,  the  duke  of  Norfolk  required  that  the 
regent  should  make  homage  in  the  King's  name  to  the  crown  of 
England,  thinking  he  had  some  ground  to  demand  the  same, 
seeing  the  said  regent  there  to  plead  his  cause  before  the  council 
of  England.  Whereat  the  regent  grew  red,  and  knew  not  what  to 
answer  ;  but  secretary  Lidington  took  up  the  speech,  and  said, 
"  That  in  restoring  again  to  Scotland  the  lands  of  Huntington, 
Cumberland  and  Northumberland,  with  such  other  lands  as 
Scotland  did  of  old  possess  in  England,  that  homage  should  gladly 
be  made  for  the  said  lands  :  but  as  to  the  crown  and  kingdom  of 
Scotland,  it  was  freer  than  England  had  been  lately,  when  it  paid 
St.  Peter's  penny  to  the  Pope." 

It  appeared  still  that  the  duke  drave  off  time  with  us,  as  having 
no  inclination  to  enter  upon  the  terrors  of  accusation.  What 
was  in  his  head  appealed  afterward  ;  but  he  was  long  in  a  suspense 
with  whom  to  deal  :  for  he  thought  (as  he  afterward  said)  he 
neither  did  see  honest  men  nor  v;ise  men.  At  last  he  resolved  to 
enter  in  conference  with  secretary  Lidington,  to  v/hom  he  said, 
"  That  before  that  time  he  had  ever  esteemed  him  a  wise  man, 
until  that  now  he  came  before  strangers  to  accuse  the  Queen  his 
mistress,  as  if  England  were  judge  over  the  princes  of  Scotland. 
How  could  we  find  in  our  hearts  to  dishonour  our  King's  mother, 
or  how  could  we  ansv.'er  afterward  for  what  we  were  doing,  seeing 
it  tended  to  hazard  the  King  her  son's  right  to  England,  intending 
to  bring  his  mother's  honesty  in  question  ?  It  had  been  rather 
the  duty  of  you  her  subjects,  says  he,  to  cover  her  imperfections 
if  she  had  any,  remitting  unto  God  and  time  to  punish  and  put 
order  thereto,  who  is  the  only  judge  over  princes."  Lidington, 
as  he  might  well  do,  purged  himself,  and  declared  he  came  there 
to  endeavour  to  stop  the  said  accusation,  which  the  laird  of  Grange, 
and  divers  others,  had  endeavoured  to  do  in  vain,  before  the 
regent's  coming  out  of  Scotland  :  and  that  now  he  would  be  glad 
of  any  help  to  hinder  that  shameful  deliberation  of  the  regent's, 
pushed  thereto  by  a  company  of  greedy,  rash  and  careless  coun- 
sellors, the  most  part  of  them  his  enviers  and  secret  enemies  : 
praying  the  duke  not  to  conceive  such  an  evil  opinion  of  him  ; 
but  requesting  him  to  draw  the  regent  apart,  and  enter  with  him 
upon  those  terms  which  afterward  the  regent  would  shew  him, 
and  he  should  amplify  and  set  it  out  the  best  he  could.  The  duke 
asked,  "  If  the  regent  would  keep  secret  ?  "  and  being  thereof 
assured  by  Lidington,  the  next  day  he  took  occasion  to  enter  into 


104 


SIR  JAMES  MELVILLE 

discourse  with  the  regent,  about  their  first  friendship  and 
famiHarity  contracted  at  Leith  during  the  siege,  and  helping  to 
put  the  Frenchmen  out  of  Scotland.  Then,  after  that  the  regent 
had  promised  secrecy,  and  assured  him  that  their  first  friendship 
should  stand  till  the  end  of  his  life,  the  duke  began  to  declare, 
how  "  That  he  would  be  a  faithful  subject  to  the  Queen  his  mistress 
so  long  as  she  lived  ;  but  that  she  was  too  careless  what  might 
come  after  her  about  the  well  and  quiet  of  her  country  :  though 
it  was  the  interest  of  the  kingdom  of  England  more  to  notice  the 
same,  by  determining  the  succession,  to  prevent  troubles  that 
might  otherwise  ensue.  That  they  had  divers  times  essayed 
to  do  something  therein  at  every  parliament,  but  that  their  Queen 
had  thereat  evidenced  a  great  discontent,  and  hindred  the  same, 
shewing  thereby  that  she  cared  not  what  blood  was  shed  after 
her  for  the  right  and  title  of  the  crown  of  England,  which  consists 
only  in  the  persons  of  the  Queen  and  King  of  Scotland  her  son  ; 
which  had  been  put  out  of  doubt  ere  then,  if  matters  had  not 
fallen  out  so  unhappily  at  home  ;  and  yet  he  and  other  noblemen 
of  England,  as  fathers  of  the  country,  were  minded  to  be  careful 
thereof,  watching  their  opportunity.  But  that  they  wondred 
what  could  move  him  to  come  there  and  accuse  his  Queen  ;  for 
albeit  she  had  done,  or  suffered  harm  to  be  done  to  the  King  her 
husband,  yet  there  was  respect  to  be  had  to  the  prince  her  son, 
upon  whom  he  and  many  in  England  had  fixed  their  eyes,  as  Mr. 
Melvil,  who  had  been  late  ambassador  there,  could  testify.  He 
therefore  wished  that  the  Queen  should  not  be  accused,  nor 
dishonoured  for  the  King  her  son's  cause,  and  for  respect  to  the 
right  they  both  had  to  succeed  to  the  crown  of  England.  And 
further  the  duke  said,  I  am  sent  to  hear  your  accusation  ;  but 
neither  will  I,  nor  the  Queen  my  mistress,  give  out  any  sentence 
upon  your  accusation.  And  that  you  may  understand  the  veritT,' 
of  this  point  more  clearly,  you  shall  do  well  the  next  time  that  I 
require  you  before  the  council  to  give  in  j^our  accusation  in 
writing  ;  to  demand  again  my  mistress's  seal  and  hand-writing 
(before  you  shew  your  folly)  that  in  case  you  accuse,  she  shall 
immediately  convict  and  give  out  her  sentence  according  to  your 
probation  ;  otherwise,  that  you  will  not  open  your  pack  :  which 
if  her  Majesty  shall  refuse  to  grant  unto  you,  which  undoubtedly 
she  will  do,  then  assure  yourself  that  my  information  is  true, 
take  occasion  hereupon  to  stay  from  further  accusation." 

The  regent  took  very  well  with  this  advice  of  the  duke's,  and 
kept  it  secret  from  all  his  company  save  secretary  Lidington  and 
me,  to  whom  that  same  night  he  imparted  it,  shewing  us  his 
inclination  to  follow  the  same  ;  in  which  resolution  we  confirmed 
him.  At  the  next  meeting  with  the  council,  when  the  duke 
demanded  the  accusation  to  be  given  in,  the  regent  asked  for  his 
security  the  Queen  of  England's  seal  and  hand-writing,  as  was 
before  advised  :  of  which  the  rest  of  his  faction  gave  Lidington 
the  full  blame,  because  it  drew  on  a  delay  until  the  post  was  sent 

105 


THE  MEMOIRS  OP 


to  the  court,  and  returned  the  Queen's  answer.  Being  come,  it 
was  told,  "  That  she  was  a  true  pi-incess,  her  word  and  promise 
would  be  abundantly  sufficient.  The  secretary  Cecil  and  Mr. 
John  Wood  secretary  to  the  regent,  thought  strange  of  this  manner 
of  procedure  ;  therefore  it  was  advised  to  desire  the  lords  on  both 
sides  to  go  from  York  toward  the  court,  that  the  matter  might 
there  be  treated,  where  the  Queen  was  able  to  give  more  ready 
answers  and  replies. 

In  the  mean  time  the  regent  finding  the  information  the  duke 
of  Norfolk  gave  hinri  concerning  the  Queen  of  England's  answer 
to  be  true,  he  entred  further  into  communication  with  him,  and 
in  presence  of  Lidington,  it  was  agreed  betwixt  them  as  followeth  : 
That  he  in  no  ways  should  accuse  the  Queen  ;  That  the  duke 
should  obtain  to  him  the  Queen's  favour  with  a  confirmation  of 
the  regency.  The  duke  and  he  were  to  be  as  sworn  brothers  of 
one  religion,  shooting  continually  at  one  mark,  with  the  mutual 
intelligence  of  one  anothers  minds  ;  the  one  to  rule  Scotland,  the 
other  to  rule  England,  to  the  glory  of  God,  and  well  of  both  the 
countries  and  their  princes,  so  that  posterity  should  report  them 
the  happiest  two  instruments  that  ever  were  bred  in  Britain. 

The  duke  was  then  the  greatest  subject  in  Europe,  not  being  a 
free  prince.  For  he  ruled  the  Queen,  and  all  those  who  were 
most  familiar  with  her.  He  also  ruled  the  council  ;  and  ruled 
two  factions  in  England,  both  protestants  and  papists,  with  the 
city  of  London  and  whole  commons.  The  great  men  who  were 
papists  were  all  his  near  kinsmen,  whom  he  entertained  with  great 
wisdom  and  discretion  ;  the  protestants  had  such  proof  of  his 
godly  life  and  conversation,  that  they  loved  him  entirely. 

The  regent  being  arrived  at  the  court  of  England,  which  was 
for  the  time  at  Hampton-court,  he  was  daily  pressed  to  give  in  his 
accusation,  especially  by  those  who  were  about  him,  when  all 
thought  strange  that  he  was  so  slow  of  doing  thereof,  until  they 
were  advertised  by  one  of  the  lords  of  the  Queen's  faction  of  all 
that  had  past  betwixt  the  regent  and  the  duke  of  Norfolk.  For 
the  duke  by  a  secret  hand  had  advertised  our  Queen  ;  and  she 
again  had  shewed  it  to  one  of  her  inost  familiars,  who  advertised 
the  earl  of  Morton  thereof.  He  took  this  very  ill,  that  the  regent 
had  done  this  without  acquainting  him,  or  any  of  his  society  of 
his  design.  But  ere  he,  or  any  of  his  company  would  seem  to 
understand  any  thing  of  the  matter,  they  laid  their  heads  together, 
and  caused  Mr.  John  Wood  to  inform  secretary  Cecil  of  all  that 
had  passed,  desiring  him.  to  press  forward  the  accusation,  wherein 
of  himself  he  was  abundantly  earnest.  They  again  left  nothing 
undone  for  their  part  to  effectuate  the  same,  putting  him  in  hope 
that  the  Queen  would  give  him  her  hand- writing  and  seal,  that  she 
should  convict  the  Queen  in  case  he  accused  her.  Others  of  the 
finest  of  them  persuaded  him  that  she  would  never  give  her  hand- 
writing or  seal  for  that  end,  putting  him  to  a  strait  to  see  what  he 
■would  do  in  case  he  obtained  his  desire.     Mr.  John  Wood  said, 

1 06 


SIR  JAMES  MELVILLE 


"  that  it  was  fit  to  carry  in  all  the  writs  to  the  council,"  and 
he  would  keep  the  accusation  in  his  bosom,  and  would 
not  deliver  it  till  first  the  thing  demanded  of  the  Queen  was 
granted.  The  rest  of  the  regent's  lords  and  counsellors  had 
concluded  among  them.  That  so  soon  as  the  duke  of  Norfolk,  as 
chief  of  the  council,  would  enquire  for  the  accusation,  they  should 
all  with  one  voice  cry  and  persuade  the  regent  to  go  forward  with 
it. 

Secretary  Lidington  and  I  minded  the  regent  how  far  he  had 
obliged  himself  to  the  duke  of  Norfolk.  He  said,  "  he  would  do 
well  enough,  and  that  it  would  not  come  to  that  length."  So 
soon  as  he  with  his  council  were  within  the  council-house,  the 
dulce  of  Norfolk  asked  for  the  accusation  ;  the  regent  desired  again 
the  assurance  of  conviction  by  writing  and  seal,  as  is  said.  It  was 
answered  ag^.in,  "  That  the  Queen's  Majesty's  word,  being  a 
true  princess,  was  sufficient."  Then  all  the  counsel  cried  out, 
"  Would  he  mistrust  the  Queen,  who  had  given  such  proof  of  her 
friendship  to  Scotland  ?  "  The  regent's  counsel  cried  out  also 
in  the  same  manner.  Then  secretary  Cecil  asked,  if  they  had  the 
accusation  there  ?  "  Yes,"  says  Mr.  John  Wood  ;  and  with  that 
he  plucks  it  out  of  his  bosom,  "  But  I  will  not  deliver  it,  says  he, 
till  her  Majesty's  hand-writing  and  seal  be  delivered  to  my  lord 
regent  for  what  he  demands."  Then  the  bishop  of  Orkney 
snatcheth  the  writing  out  of  his  hand,  "  Let  me  have  it,"  says  he, 
"  I  shall  present  it."  Mr.  John  Wood  run  after  him,  as  if  he  would 
have  taken  it  again.  Forward  goes  the  bishop  to  the  council 
table,  and  gives  in  the  accusation.  Then  cries  out  the  cham- 
berlain of  England  ;  "  Well  done,  bishop,  thou  art  the  frankest 
fellow  among  them  all,  none  of  them  will  make  thy  leap  good  ;  " 
scorning  his  leaping  out  of  the  laird  of  Grange's  ship.  Mr.  Henry 
Balnaves  only  had  made  resistance,  and  called  for  secretary 
Lidington,  who  waited  without  the  council-house.  But  so  soon 
as  Mr.  Henry  Balnaves  had  called  for  him,  he  came  in  and  whis- 
pered in  the  regent's  ear,  '  That  he  had  shamed  himself,  and  put 
his  life  in  danger,  by  the  loss  of  so  good  a  friend  as  the  duke  of 
Norfolk,  and  that  he  had  lost  his  reputation  for  ever.' 

The  regent,  who,  by  his  facility,  had  been  brought  to  break 
with  the  duke  of  Norfolk,  repented  himself  thereof,  so  soon  as 
Lidington  acquainted  him  with  the  danger,  and  desired  the 
accusation  to  be  rendred  up  to  him  again,  alledging,  '  He  had 
some  more  to  add  thereto.'  They  answered,  '  They  would  hold 
what  they  had,  and  were  ready  to  receive  any  addition  when  he 
should  please  to  give  it  in.'  The  duke  of  Norfolk  had  much  ado 
to  keep  his  countenance.  Mr.  John  Wood  winked  upon  secretary 
Cecil  ;  who  smiled  again  upon  him.  The  rest  of  the  regent's 
company  were  laughing  one  upon  another  ;  only  secretary 
Lidington  had  a  sad  heart.  The  regent  came  forth  of  the  council- 
house  with  tears  in  his  eyes,  and  went  to  his  lodging  at  Kingston, 
where  his  factious  friends  had  much  ado  to  comfort  him. 


107 


THE  MEMOIRS  OF 


The  Queen  of  England  having  obtained  her  intent,  received 
thereby  great  contentment  through  the  advantage  she  thereby 
received.  First,  she  thought  she  had  matter  for  her,  to  shew 
wherefore  she  detained  the  Queen,  when  she  was  challenged  by 
the  foreign  ambassadors  upon  that  account.  Then  she  was  glad 
of  the  Queen's  dishonour  ;  but  in  her  mind  she  detested  the 
regent  and  all  his  company,  and  would  notice  him  no  more.  She 
sent  also  incontinent  to  the  Queen  to  comfort  her,  praying  her 
to  look  on  herself  in  a  better  case,  albeit  for  a  while  restrained  of 
her  liberty,  than  to  be  in  Scotland,  among  so  unworthy  subjects, 
who  had  accused  her  falsly  and  wrongfully,  as  she  was  assured  ; 
and  that  neither  should  they  be  the  better,  nor  she  the  worse  for 
any  thing  they  had  done  :  for  she  would  neither  be  judge,  nor 
give  out  any  sentence  thereupon  ;  nor  should  any  part  of  the  said 
false  accusation  be  made  known  by  her,  or  her  council,  to  any  : 
praying  her  to  take  patience  in  her  gentle  ward,  where  she  was 
nearer  to  get  the  crown  of  England  set  upon  her  head,  in  case  of 
her  decease,  who  was  but  the  eldest  sister. 

Thus  the  regent  won  no  other  thing  for  his  labour,  but  to  be 
despised  by  the  Queen  and  council  of  England,  detested  by  the 
duke  of  Norfolk,  and  reproached  by  his  best  and  truest  friends, 
suffered  to  ly  a  long  time  at  Kingston,  in  great  displeasure  and 
fear,  without  money  to  spend,  and  without  hope  to  get  any  from 
the  Queen.  In  the  mean  time,  the  agreement  betwixt  him  and 
the  duke  of  Norfolk,  was  told  the  Queen.  For  the  earl  of  Morton 
caused  a  minister  called  John  Willock,  to  declare  what  had  passed 
betwixt  the  regent  and  the  duke  of  Norfolk  to  the  earl  of  Hun- 
tington, v/ho  caused  my  lord  of  Leicester  to  tell  it  to  the  Queen. 

The  duke  of  Norfolk  finding  himself  disappointed  by  the  regent, 
and  his  purposes  discovered  to  the  Queen,  began  to  boast  and 
speak  plain  language, '  That  he  would  serve  and  honour  the  Queen 
his  mistress  so  long  as  she  lived,  but  after  her  decease  he  would 
set  the  crown  of  England  upon  the  Queen  of  Scotland's  head,  as 
lawful  heir.'  And  this  he  avowed  to  secretary  Cecil,  desiring  him 
to  go  and  prattle  that  language  again  to  the  Queen.  The  secretary 
Cecil  answered,  '  That  he  would  be  no  taleteller  to  the  Queen 
of  him.,  but  would  concur  with  him  in  any  course,  and  serve  him 
in  any  thing  wherein  he  would  employ  him.'  He  threatned  also 
Sir  Nicholas  Throckmorton,  who  he  supposed  would  be  a  true 
and  devoted  servant  to  the  Queen  :  so  that  Sir  Nicholas  was 
necessitated  to  seek  after  his  favour  by  the  means  of  the  earls  of 
Pembroke  and  Leicester,  who  was  also  his  friend,  albeit  he  durst 
not  conceal  from  the  Queen  that  whereof  the  earl  of  Huntington 
had  advertised  him,  seeing  he  had  desired  him  to  declare  the  same 
to  her  Majesty. 

The  duke  of  Norfolk  understanding  that  his  whole  purposes 
were  discovered,  stood  not  to  acknowledge  to  the  Queen,  '  That 
during  her  lifetime  he  would  never  offend  her,  but  serve  and 
honour  her,  and  after  her  the  Queen  of  Scotland,  as  in  his  opinion 

1 08 


SIR  JAMES  MELVILLE 


truest  heir,  and  the  only  means  for  eschewing  of  civil  wars,  and 
great  blood-shed  that  might  otherwise  fall  out.'  Now,  albeit 
the  Queen  of  England  liked  not  that  language  ;  yet  she  would  not 
appear  to  find  fault  with  it  for  the  time. 

Now,  matters  being  cast  loose  in  this  manner  between  the 
regent  and  the  duke,  and  the  regent  in  great  distiess,  Sir  Nicholas 
Throckmorton  being  a  man  of  a  deep  reach,  and  great  prudence 
and  discretion,  who  had  ever  travelled  for  the  union  of  this  isle  : 
after  that  he  was  agreed  with  the  duke,  and  perceived  that  the 
earls  of  Leicester,  Pembroke,  secretary  Cecil,  and  the  rest  of  the 
court  and  commons  were  all  for  the  duke,  and  that  the  Queen 
durst  not  find  fault  with  him,  he  devised  and  eflfectuated  a  new 
friendship  betwixt  the  regent  and  the  duke,  who  was  unwilling 
again  to  enter  with  the  regent  ;  yet  at  length  he  suffered  himself 
to  be  persuaded.  The  lord  regent,  on  the  other  hand,  being 
destitute  of  all  friendship  in  England  for  the  time,  and  indigent 
of  money,  thought  he  would  be  very  fortunate  if  again  he  could 
obtain  the  duke's  friendship  and  pardon  ;  so  he  was  brought 
easily  and  secretly  unto  the  duke  by  Sir  Nicholas.  At  which 
time  he  granted  his  oflfence,  excusing  himself  the  best  he  could, 
by  the  craft  and  importunity  of  some  of  his  company.  The  duke 
helped  him  to  frame  his  excuse,  alledging,  '  That  he  knew  how 
his  gentle  nature  was  abused  by  the  craft  and  concurrence  of 
some  of  the  council  of  England,  who  had  joined  with  some  about 
him.  That  if  he  w^ould,  for  the  future,  keep  touch  and  be  secret, 
they  should  take  a  course  with  all  those  who  had  drawn  on  that 
draught.'  Th§  regent  promised  as  far  as  could  be  devised,  so 
that  a  greater  friendship  was  packed  up  between  them  than  ever. 
The  duke  had  before  told  him  '  That  he  was  resolved  to  marry 
the  Queen  out  mistress,  and  that  he  should  never  permit  her  to 
come  to  Scotland,  nor  yet  that  he  should  ever  rebel  against  the 
Queen  of  England,  during  her  time.  Also  that  he  had  a  daughter, 
who  would  be  meeter  for  the  King  than  any  other,  for  many 
reasons.'  Now  the  duke  took  in  hand  to  cause  the  Queen  his 
mistress  to  give  unto  my  lord  regent  2000  pounds  Sterling  ;  for 
the  which  sum  he  became  cautioner,  and  was  afterward  com- 
pelled to  pay  it. 

After  that  the  regent  had  got  this  money,  and  had  taken  his 
leave  of  the  Queen,  he  was  advised  by  such  as  had  great  credit 
about  him,  to  tell  the  Queen  all  things  that  had  passed  again 
betwixt  the  duke  and  him.  And  to  do  it  the  more  covertly,  it 
was  devised,  that  the  Queen  of  England  should  send  for  him, 
pretending  to  give  him  some  admonition  about  some  order  to  be 
observed  upon  the  border.  This  being  done,  and  all  things 
discovered  to  the  Queen,  with  a  promise,  so  soon  as  he  came  to 
Scotland,  and  had  received  any  lettevs  from  the  duke  by  cyphers 
or  otherwise,  he  should  send  them  to  England  by  an  express  ; 
in  the  mean  time  the  duke  wrote  unto  our  Queen,  advertising  her 
again  of  the  new  friendship  between  him  and  the  regent,  who  was 

I  109 


THE  MEMOIRS  OF 


become  very  penitent,  and  had  been  formerly  deceived  by  craftier 
men  than  himself,  desiring  her  to  let  him  pass  by  without  any 
harm  done  to  him  or  any  in  his  company  by  the  way. 

At  that  time  the  duke  commanded  over  all  the  north  parts  of 
England,  where  the  Queen  our  mistress  was  kept,  and  so  might 
have  taken  her  out  when  he  pleased.  And  when  he  was  angry 
at  the  regent,  he  had  appointed  the  earl  of  Westmorland  to  ly  in 
his  way,  and  cut  off  himself,  and  so  many  of  his  company  as  were 
most  bent  upon  the  Queen's  accusation.  But,  after  the  last 
agreement,  the  duke  sent  and  discharged  the  said  earl  from  doing 
us  any  harm  :  yet,  upon  our  return,  the  earl  came  in  our  way 
with  a  great  company  of  horse,  to  signify  to  us  that  we  were  at  his 
mercy. 

After  the  regent's  safe  return  to  Scotland,  Mr.  John  Wood 
his  secretary  piocured,  upon  the  first  occasion,  to  be  sent  to 
England,  with  all  the  letters  that  had  been  sent  from  the  duke  of 
Noifolk,  which  could  tend  to  undo  him.  He  desired  Mr.  Henry 
Balnaves  to  cause  the  regent  to  give  him  the  bishoprick  of  Murray, 
void  for  the  time,  though  he  pretended  it  was  neither  for  ambition 
nor  covetousness  of  the  rents,  but  that  he  might  have  an  honourable 
stile,  to  set  out  the  better  his  amb^issage.  The  said  Mr.  Henry, 
being  indeed  such  a  man  as  Mr.  John  would  appeared  to  have 
,  been,  was  very  angry,  and  never  liked  him  after  that.  My  lord 
Lindsay  vented  himself.  That  he  was  one  of  the  number  who 
gave  the  regent  counsel  so  to  do,  alledging,  that  such  promises, 
as  were  made  to  the  duke  of  Norfolk  for  fear  of  life,  ought  not  to 
be  kept. 

A  little  after  that  Mr.  John  was  come  back  to  Scotland,  well 
rewarded  for  his  pains,  the  duke  was  sent  for  by  the  Queen  to 
come  to  court.  Whereupon  fiist  he  posted  in  haste  to  secretary- 
Cecil,  to  demand  his  counsel  ;  for  he  reposed  much  upoii  him, 
they  being  joined  in  one  course.  The  other  made  answer,  '  That 
there  was  no  danger  ;  he  might  come  and  go  at  his  pleasure,  no 
man  would  or  durst  offend  him  '  :  which  made  the  duke  ride  up 
quietly,  only  with  his  own  train  ;  whereas  otherwise  he  would 
have  been  well  accompanied.  In  the  mean  time  secretary  Cecil 
informed  the  Queen,  '  That  the  necessity  of  the  time  obliged  her 
not  to  omit  this  occasion,  but  to  take  the  matter  stoutly  upon 
herself,  and  incontinent  command  her  guard  to  lay  hands  upon  the 
duke,  or  else  no  other  durst  do  it  ;  which  if  she  did  not  at  this 
time,  her  crown  would  be  in  peril.'  The  Queen  following  this 
counsel,  the  duke  was  taken  and  secured,  when  he  thought  all 
England  was  at  his  devotion  ;  who  after  long  captivity  was 
executed,  ending  his  life  devoutely  in  the  leformed  religion. 

Shortly  after  Mr.  John  Wood's  returning  out  of  England,  there 
was  a  great  convention  held  at  Perth,  where  the  regent  was  re- 
solved to  accuse  secretaiy  Lidington,  as  being  of  counsel  with  the 
duke  of  Norfolk.  But  he  had  so  many  friends  foi  the  time,  that 
they  durst  not  lay  hands  on  him  :   albeit  from  that  hour  forth,  he 

no 


SIR  JAMES  MELVILLE 


retired  from  the  court,  and  remained  with  the  earl  of  Athole, 
wheie  the  regent  entertained  him  with  friendly  letters.  And  upon 
a  time  being  at  Stirling,  he  wrote  for  him  to  come  and  make  a 
dispatch  for  England  ;  whither  being  come,  captain  Crawford 
was  directed  to  accuse  him  before  the  privy  council,  of  the  late 
King's  murder  ;  and  being  accused  of  so  odious  a  crime,  he  was 
committed  to  ward.  Sir  James  Balfour  was  also  taken  out  of  his 
own  house,  when  he  expected  no  such  thing. 

Then  my  lord  of  Down  wrote  to  the  laird  of  Grange  to  be  upon 
his  guard,  for  the  regent  was  resolved  to  take  the  castle  of  Edin- 
burgh from  him,  and  make  the  laird  of  Drumwhasel  captain 
thereof.  Which  advertisement  he  had  formerly  given  to  Grange, 
as  also  of  the  design  to  take  the  secretary  and  Sir  James  Balfour. 
But  at  the  first  he  would  not  give  credit  thereto  ;  but  now  when 
he  did  see  the  advertisement  take  effect,  he  began  to  think  that 
the  regent  was  strangely  misled.  He  would  have  been  satisfied 
to  have  wanted  the  castle,  and  to  have  left  the  court,  were  it  not 
for  the  desire  he  had  to  save  the  lives  of  secretary  Lidington  and 
Sir  James  Balfour,  having  upon  his  honour  engaged  to  protect 
the  said  Sir  James  upon  his  rendring  up  the  caslle  to  him.  He 
knew  they  were  wrongfully  pursued,  only  by  the  malice  and 
envy  of  their  enemies  for  their  offices.  Sir  James  Balfour  being 
taken,  sent  unto  the  laird  of  Grange,  minding  him  how  he  had 
joined  with  the  lords  and  regent,  upon  the  trust  he  reposed  on 
his  fidelity,  more  than  on  all  their  seals  and  hand-writings  which 
he  had  to  produce.  Whereupon  the  laird  of  Grange  sent  a  gentle- 
man to  the  regent  :  but  the  regent  purged  himself,  and  alledged 
the  council  were  so  banded  together  against  the  secretary  and  Sir 
James  Balfour,  '  that  it  consisted  not  in  his  power  to  preserve 
them  from  prison,  seeing  they  were  accused  for  the  King's  murder, 
against  his  will  ;  but  Grange  should  know  his  honest  part  thereof 
at  meeting  ;  praying  him  in  the  mean  time  to  suspend  his  judg- 
ment.' Nevertheless  the  regent  and  his  council  were  determined 
to  proceed  to  process  the  two  prisoners  upon  their  lives,  till 
Grange  sent  again  and  desired  the  like  justice  to  be  done  upon 
the  earl  of  Morton  and  Mr.  Archibald  Douglas  :  for  he  offered 
to  fight  with  Mr.  Archibald,  and  the  lord  Herreis  with  the  earl  of 
Morton,  upon  that  head  ;  '  That  they  were  upon  the  council, 
and  consequently  art  and  part  of  the  King's  murder.'  This 
stayed  their  process  at  that  time.  And  the  regent  still  alledged. 
That  the  lords  had  taken  them  against  his  will,  and  that  he  should 
send  Sir  James  Balfour  to  the  castle  of  St.  Andrew's,  and  should 
bring  secretary  Lidington  to  Edinburgh,  and  deliver  him  unto 
the  laird  of  Grange  to  be  kept.  So  the  regent  came  to  Edinburgh, 
and  brought  the  secretary  with  him,  intending,  as  Grange  was 
informed,  to  make  the  secretary  an  instrument  to  draw  Grange 
out  of  the  castle  to  the  town  the  next  morning,  to  receive  the 
secretary  to  be  carried  up  to  the  castle,  and  then  to  retain  Grange 
also    till    the    castle    should    be    delivered    unto    the    laird    of 

III 


THE  MEMOIRS  OF 


Drumwhasel  to  be  keeper  thereof,  and  to  send  Grange  home  to  his 
house,  and  reward  him  with  the  priory  of  Pittenweem.  But 
the  earl  of  Morton  had  appointed  four  men  to  slay  Grange  at 
the  entry  of  the  regent's  lodging,  without  the  regent's  Imowledge. 
But  Grange  was  loath  yet  to  believe  the  worst  of  the  regent  :  and 
being  of  opinion  that  the  regent's  gentle  nature  was  forced  by  the 
lords,  as  he  had  sent  him  word  ;  understanding  that  they  intended 
to  carry  the  secretary  to  Tantallon,  he  came  down  out  of  the  castle 
with  a  company,  and  took  the  secretary  out  of  the  hands  of  his 
keepers,  and  convoyed  him  up  to  the  castle.  For  he  thought, 
if  it  were  true  that  the  regent  said.  That  he  was  forced  by  the  lords 
against  his  will  to  let  the  secretary  be  retained  after  that  he  was 
accused,  the  regent  would  be  glad  that  he  had  revenged  his  quarrel 
upon  the  lords,  by  taking  the  secretary  out  of  their  hands,  whereof 
he  might  justly  pretend  ignorance  :  and  if  the  regent  would  be 
dissatisfied  with  his  carriage  therein,  it  would  be  a  certain  token 
of  his  dissimulation.  In  that  case  Grange  thought  he  did  a  good 
deed  to  save  his  friend's  life,  and  so  he  would  have  good  ground 
to  believe  divers  intelligences  which  formerly  he  would  not  credit, 
and  therefore  he  would  be  upon  his  guard  in  time  coming. 

The  regent  and  his  counsellors,  when  they  understood  that 
Grange  had  taken  the  secretary  to  the  castle,  were  in  great  per- 
plexity, supposing  all  their  counsels  to  be  disclosed.  They  knew 
not  how  to  help  the  matter  ;  but  they  advised  the  regent  to  cover 
his  anger  until  a  fit  opportunity,  causing  him  to  go  up  to  the 
castle  the  next  morning  :  for  he  durst  trust  Grange,  though 
Grange  would  no  more  trust  him.  At  meeting,  the  regent  gave 
him  more  fair  words  than  he  was  wont  to  do,  which  Grange  took 
in  evil  part. 

After  this  there  were  many  devices  how  to  in*"rap  Grange  some 
time  in  his  down-coming  to  the  regent  :  but  he  vvas  ever  ad- 
vertised, and  upon  his  guard  ;  so  as  the  regent  lost  daily  of  his 
best  friends,  and  the  number  of  his  enemies  increased.  For  the 
duke  of  Chastleherault,  (who  was  agreed  with  him  by  the  inter- 
cession of  the  lord  Herreis)  when  the  said  duke  and  the  lord 
Herreis  came  to  Edinburgh,  as  was  appointed  at  the  agreement, 
to  concur  with  the  regent  in  coimcil,  and  otherwise,  for  the 
quieting  of  the  country,  they  were  both  warded  in  the  castle, 
against  promise.  Which  when  the  laird  of  Grange  found  fault 
with,  Mr.  John  Wood  said,  '  I  marvel  at  you  that  you  will  be 
offended  at  this  :  for  how  shall  we,  who  are  my  lord's  dependers, 
get  rewards,  but  by  the  wreck  of  such  men  ?  '  '  Yea,  (said  Grange) 
is  that  5'our  holiness  ?  I  see  nothing  among  you  but  en%'y, 
greediness  and  ambition,  whereby  you  will  wreck  a  good 
regent  and  ruin  the  country.*  This  was  long  before  the 
taking  of  the  secretary,  and  increased  the  hatred  of  a  wicked 
society  against  Grange,  who  upon  all  occasions  evidenced  his 
detesting  their  selfish  designs  who  were  dependers  upon  the 
regent :    which  was  one  of  the  faults  also  they  had  against  the 

112 


SIR  JAMES  MELVILLE 


secretary,  as  also  because  his  wit  so  far  excelled  theirs.  The 
captivity  of  the  duke  and  my  lord  Herreis  made  many  enemies 
to  the  regent,  who  took  the  greater  boldness  to  conspire  against 
him,  when  they  perceived  him  to  lose  and  cast  off  his  best  friends. 

It  was  a  grievous  thing  to  see  that  good  regent,  of  himself  so 
well  inclined  to  do  good  offices  in  religion  and  commonwealth, 
so  led  after  other  mens  vain  pretences  and  affections,  to  his  own 
wreck,  to  the  wreck  of  many  worthy  persons,  and  to  their  ruin  at 
length  who  led  him  in  these  ways. 

He  grew  to  give  great  ear  to  flatterers,  and  would  not  suffer 
his  true  friends  to  tell  hiin  the  verity.  The  observation  hereof 
made  many  conjecture  that  his  ruin  was  at  hand  ;  and  I,  among 
others,  devised  a  present  remedy  for  his  preservation,  which  was 
this  : 

I  knew  that  the  taking  Lidington  to  the  castle  sunk  deepest 
in  the  regent's  heart  ;  and  that  the  false  practices  and  wreckful 
fetches  of  such  as  had  taught  him  to  dissemble  moved  Grange, 
who  had  been  his  greatest  friend,  to  be  jealous  of  him  ;  the 
noticing  whereof  gave  ground  to  his  enemies  to  conspire  against  him. 

First,  I  requested  the  regent  to  remember  the  false  practices 
that  some  about  him  had  sundry  times  used  formerly  to  his  great 
displeasure,  and  to  consider  that  they  occasioned  all  the  jealousies 
and  suspicions  that  were  fallen  out  between  him  and  his  friends, 
which  might  encourage  his  enemies  to  take  some  wicked  enter- 
prize  in  hand  against  his  person.  To  remedy  this,  I  proposed  it 
as  fit,  that  Lidington  should  go  into  France,  finding  caution  not 
to  return  to  Scotland  under  the  penalty'  of  20000  pounds,  and 
withal  giving  his  son  in  pledge  for  further  security,  and  that  he 
should  practice  nothing  against  the  quiet  of  the  country  :  and 
that  Sir  James  Balfour  should  be  set  at  Hberty,  or  banished  after 
that  same  manner  ;  for  he  had  already  won  the  regent's  familiars 
with  great  sums  of  gold,  which  had  stenched  their  wrath  against 
him  ;  which  Lidington  would  not  do,  albeit  Sir  James  had  sent 
him  his  advice  to  do  as  he  had  done  :  these  two  being  freed,  and 
out  of  the  way,  the  laird  of  Grange  should  deliver  to  him  the  castle 
of  Edinburgh,  to  make  captain  thereof  whom  he  pleased  ;  that 
so  the  whole  country  might  see,  that  all  was  in  his  power,  and  at 
his  command.  This  I  thought  the  best  way  to  reduce  again  the 
opinion  of  the  people,  and  to  scar  all  his  enemies  from  their 
desperate  enterprizes.  His  answer  was,  '  That  he  did  bear  no 
ill-will  to  Lidington  ;  that  he  would  not  press  him  to  go  out  of 
the  country  :  as  for  Sir  James  Balfour,  he  would  set  him  at  liberty  : 
and  for  Grange,  he  had  too  many  obligations  to  him,  and  too  great 
proofs  of  his  fidelity,  to  mistrust  him  ;  that  he  was  never  minded 
to  take  the  castle  frorri  him  ;  and  if  it  were  out  of  his  hands,  he 
would  give  him  the  keeping  thereof  before  any  other.' 

He  denied  that  he  had  any  suspicion  either  of  Grange  or  the 
secretary,  and  thereupon  went  up  to  the  castle,  and  conferred 
friendly  with  them  of  all  his  affairs,  with  a  merry  countenance, 

113 


THE  MEMOIRS  OF 


and  casting  in  many  merry  purposes,  minding  them  of  many 
straits  and  dangers  they  had  formerly  been  together  engaged  in. 
So  far  was  he  instructed  to  dissemble  :  yet  the  violence  he  did 
himself  herein  was  easily  perceived  by  such  who  had  been  long 
acquainted  with  him,  and  had  been  his  chief  advisers  under  God  ; 
the  secretary  by  his  wisdom,  and  Grange  by  his  valour  and  fidelity, 
who  had  both  such  notable  qualities  as  procured  them  the  envy  of 
wicked  men,  who  by  their  continual  flattery  and  false  reports  put 
them  out  of  his  favour,  and  then,  like  a  weak  house  wanting  his 
sustaining  pillars,  he  fell. 

Himself  was  at  the  first  of  a  gentle  nature,  well  inclined,  g)od, 
wise,  stout.  In  his  first  uprising,  his  hap  was  to  light  upon  the 
best  sort  of  company  :  his  beginning  was  full  of  adversity  :  true 
honest  men  stuck  by  him,  because  he  was  religiously  educated, 
and  devoutly  inclined.  But  when  he  became  regent,  flatterers 
for  their  profit  drew  near  him,  and  puffed  him  up  into  too  good 
an  opinion  of  himself.  His  old  true  friends  who  would  reprove 
and  admonish  him,  thereby  lost  his  favour.  I  would  sometimes 
say  to  him,  '  That  he  was  like  an  unskilful  player  in  a  tennis- 
court,  running  ever  after  the  ball  ;  whereas  an  expert  player  will 
discern  where  the  ball  will  light,  or  where  it  will  rebound,  and 
with  small  travel  will  let  it  fall  on  his  hand  or  racket.'  This  I 
said,  because  he  took  very  great  pains  in  his  own  person  to  small 
effect.  After  that  he  had  gotten  divers  advertisements  of  his 
enemies  conspiracies,  yet  he  would  credit  nothing  but  what  came 
from  his  own  familiars,  who  told  him  nothing  but  of  fair  weather, 
and  of  the  best  government  that  could  be,  and  so  rendered  him 
careless  and  secure  :  which  encouraged  the  good-man  of  Bodwel- 
haugh,  called  Hamilton,  to  ly  in  his  way  as  he  was  passing 

through  Linlithgow,  who  shot  him,  whereof  he  died  that  same 
night.  All  his  counsellors  and  familiars  were  also  well  advertised, 
as  he  was,  both  of  the  inan,  the  place  and  the  time,  and  yet  were 
so  careless  of  him,  that  they  would  not  be  at  the  pains  to  search 
the  house  where  the  man  lay  to  shoot  him,  but  suffered  him  to 
escape  upon  a  speedy  horse.  I  have  written  thus  far  of  him 
because  every  one  knows  not  the  verity  how  he  was  led  away  ; 
and  because  St.  Augustine  says,  '  That  all  kind  of  ignorance  is 
neither  worthy  of  pardon  nor  excuse,  but  only  such  as  have  not 
the  means  to  be  instructed,  nor  to  get  knowledge.'  I  was  some- 
times compelled  to  recite  divers  sentences  of  Solomon  to  this  good 
regent,  (for  so  he  was,  and  will  ever  deservedly  be  called)  :  how 
that  '  an  heavy  yoke  was  ordained  for  the  sons  of  Adam,  from  the 
day  they  go  out  of  their  mothers  womb,  till  the  day  that  they 
return  to  the  mother  of  all  things  ;  from  him  who  is  clothed  in 
blue  silk  and  weareth  a  crown,  even  to  him  who  weareth  simple 
linnen  ;  wrath,  envy,  trouble  and  unquietness,  rigour,  strife, 
and  fear  of  death  in  the  time  of  rest.'  Again,  '  Be  diligent  to 
know  the  state  of  thy  flock  ;  for  there  are  some  who  see  but  with 
other  mens  eyes,  who  hear  but  with  other  mens  ears  ;  these  must 


114 


SIR  JJMES  MELVILLE 


needs  be  ignorant  :    such  a  man  is  commonly  made  a  wicked 

instrument  to  fulfil  the  appetites  of  en%'ious,  vengeable  and  greedy 

counsellors.'     And  Solomon  says,  '  That  for  the  transgression  of 

such  wicked  counsellors,  the  land  changeth  many  princes.'      And 

again,  '  The  prudent  man  seeth  the  plague,  and  eschews  it  ;    but 

fools   go  on  still,  and  are  punished.     Wisdom,  knowledge  and 

understanding  of  the  law  is  of  the  lord  ;    error,  ignorance  and 

darkness  are  appointed  unto  sinners  for  punishments  and  plagues. 

The  foolish  will  believe  every  thing,  and  the  mouths  of  fools  are 

fed  with  foolishness.'     So  the  prudent  will  consider  his  paths,  and 

can  perceive  that  some  are  counsellors  for  themselves  :    therefore 

says  Solomon,  '  I   wisdom  dwell  with  prudence,'  and  can   find 

forth  the  right  knowledge  of  counsellors  ;    as  if  he  would  say, 

Who  have  wisdom  purified  with  prudence,  will  not  be  so  easily 

carried   away  with  flatterers,  as  a  number  of  facil  princes,  who 

promote    them   above    faithful    friends    and    true    servants,    who 

reprove  them  for  their  unseemly  proceedings  :    against  the  rule 

of  Isocrates,  who  admonisheth  the  king  '  to  love  and  retain  as  his 

truest   friends   such    as   lovingly   and    modestly    will   correct    his 

faults  '  ;    and  as  Plutarch  saith  unto  Trajan,  '  Follow  the  counsel 

of  these  who  love  thee,  rather  than  of  those  whom  thou  lovest  ' ; 

and  as  Theopompus,  being  demanded,  '  How  a  prince  should  best 

rule  ?  '  answered,  '  In  permitting  his  best  servants  to  tell  him  the 

verity'  of  his  estate.'     As  the  King  of  the  people  is  ;    so  are  his 

officers  :    if  the  ofl[icers  be  wicked  ;   so  is  the  ruler  thought  to  be. 

How  are  flatterers    (said  I  to  the  regent)  flown  away  with  your 

wonted    humility,  and  who  hath  puffed  you  up  so,  that  you  will 

not    suffer  a  friendly  reproof?     Says   not  Solomon,  "  If  thou 

seest  a  man  wise  in  his  own  conceit,  there  is  more  hope  to  be 

had  of  a  fool  than  of  him.     Exalt  not  thyself  in  the  day  of  honour; 

for  pride  goeth  before  destruction,  and  an  high  mind  before  a 

fall  ?  "     '  Yet  hear  counsel  and  receive  instruction  ;    let  reason 

go   before  every  enterprize,    and   counsel   before  every  action. 

When     you    followed    the    counsel    of   your    old    experimented 

friends,  your  affairs  prospered  :     since  you  left  them,  to  follow 

the  flattering  fetches  of  your  wonted  foes,   (who  are  now  become 

j'our   chiefest   counsellors   since    you     have   been   made   regent) 

your  credit  decays,  and  all  your  business  goes  back.       I  did  shew 

you    lately,  coming  from  Drumfries,  in  what  danger  your  estate 

and  person  were  ;    to  which  you  have  taken  little  notice  :   which 

danger   appears  to  me  to  he  ever  the  longer  the  greater,  without 

speedy  repentance,    and  the  hasty  embracing  of  such  remedies 

as   I  mentioned  for  the  time.       Therefore  take  this  better    to 

heart,  and  in  good  part  off  his    hand,  of  whose   fidelity  to  you, 

you  have  had  so  good  proof  in  all  your  adversities.       Solomon, 

says  more,     "  Receive  instruction,  that  thou  mayst  be  wise  in  thy 

latter  end."     '  And,  above  all  this,  pray  to  the  most  high,  that 

he  may  direct  thy  way  in  truth  ;     which  I  pray  God  grant  you 

the  grace  to  do.' 

"5 


THE  MEMOIRS  OF 


The  most  part  of  these  sentences,  drawn  out  of  the  Bible,  I 
used  to  rehearse  to  him  at  several  occasions  ;  and  he  took  better 
with  these  off  my  hands,  who  he  knew  had  no  by-end,  than  if 
they  had  proceeded  from  the  most  learned  philosopher.  There- 
fore, at  his  desire,  I  promised  to  put  them  in  writing,  to  give  him 
them  to  keep  in  his  pocket  ;  but  he  was  slain  before  I  could  meet 
with  him. 

After  the  decease  of  the  regent,  England  sent  the  earl  of  Sussex 
to  Berwick  ;  whither  the  earl  of  Lenox  came  also  at  that  same  time 
as  being  sent  for  by  the  lords  of  the  King's  faction,  to  be  made 
regent  in  place  of  the  earl  of  Murray.  The  earl  of  Sussex  had 
with  him  the  forces  of  the  North,  as  if  he  had  some  enterprize 
to  do,  and  to  take  some  advantage  at  this  time,  when  the  country 
wanted  a  regent. 

About  that  same  time,  so  many  of  the  lords,  as  were  banded 
and  professed  the  Queen's  authority  caused  to  proclaim  the  same 
at  Linlithgow.  As  yet  they  of  the  castle  at  Edinburgh  professed 
the  King's  authority,  albeit  there  were  secret  jealousies  betwixt 
them,  and  so  many  of  the  rest  as  had  counselled  the  late  regent  to 
apprehend  the  secretary  Lidington,  and  Sir  James  Balfour,  and 
who  would  also  have  ruined  Grange,  because  he  appeared  con- 
cerned in  them  two,  and  also  because  his  virtues  were  envied, 
and  his  charge  coveted  by  others. 

They  who  were  within  the  said  castle  for  the  time,  were  my 
lord  duke  of  Chastleherault,  and  my  lord  Herreis,  warded  wrong- 
fully as  I  have  said  ;  therefore  the  laird  of  Grange  obtained  a 
warrant  from  the  rest  of  the  King's  lords  to  set  him  at  liberty. 
The  lord  Hume  was  there  to  assist  with  those  of  the  castle,  with 
the  laird  of  Grange,  the  secretary  Lidington,  his  brother  the  prior 
of  Coldingham,  three  of  my  brothers.  Sir  Robert,  captain  David, 
and  Sir  Andrew  Melville,  the  lairds  of  Drylaw,  and  Pittarrow,  Sir 
James  Balfour,  the  lairds  of  Ferniherst,  Buccleugh,  Wormiston, 
Parbroth,  and  divers  other  noblemen  and  barons,  who  came  there 
at  all  occasions,  and  were  ready  at  a  call  when  they  had  to  do. 

This  company  directed  me  to  Berwick,  toward  the  earl  of  Sussex, 
to  know  what  he  intended  to  do  with  his  forces  ;  whether  to  assist 
any  of  the  two  factions,  or  to  agree  them  ?  I  was  friendly  received 
by  him,  well  lodged,  and  my  expenses  by  him  defrayed,  wanting 
nothing.  He  sent  me  his  own  night-gown  furred  with  rich 
furrings,  to  niake  use  of  so  long  as  I  abode  there.  Albeit  I  knew 
him  to  be  a  great  enemy  to  all  Scotsmen,  he  appeared  desirous  to 
enter  in  great  familiarity  with  me,  and  as  if  he  was  desirous  I 
should  believe  he  had  communicated  to  me  his  most  secret 
thoughts,  alledging  his  plainness  to  me,  was  upon  the  report  he 
had  heard  by  sundry  of  his  countrymen  to  my  advantage.  He 
said,  "  That  his  coming  with  his  forces  was  not  to  assist  any 
^'  faction,  nor  to  decide  questions  and  titles  that  were  among  us, 
"  but  to  serve  the  Queen  his  mistress,  in  obeying  her  commands  : 
"  that  if  he  did  any  enterprize  at  that  time  against  any  Scotsman, 

ii6 


SIR  JAMES  MELVILLE 


"  it  would  be  against  his  heart.  That  of  all  Scotsman,  he  liked 
"  best  of  those  who  were  within  the  castle  of  Edinburgh  and  their 
"  dependers,  especially  because  he  knew  them  to  have  been 
"  friends  to  the  duke  of  Norfolk  his  near  cousin,  whose  part  he 
"  said  he  would  plainly  have  taken,  if  the  said  duke  had  out  of  his 
"  own  mouth  communicated  his  enterprize  to  him,  as  he  had 
"  foolishly  done  by  a  gentleman  of  his,  to  whose  credit  he  durst 
"  not  commit  the  secrecy  of  that  matter,  being  of  itself  of  so  great 
"  concernment  as  stood  him  upon  his  life  and  heritage.  And  that 
"  albeit  he  with  his  forces  came  not  to  set  out,  nor  to  fortify  any 
"  faction  in  Scotland,  yet  he  durst  be  plain  with  me  privately, 
"  as  with  a  true  friend,  to  declare  that  he  did  esteem  the  Queen 
"  of  Scotland  and  the  prince  her  son  righteous  heirs  to  the  crown 
"  of  England,  which  his  judgment  he  had  shov\Ti  to  few  of  his 
"  own  countrjTTien." 

So  I  returned  with  no  direct  answer,  but  with  a  firm  opinion, 
that  he  was  sent  to  appear  to  set  forward  the  earl  of  Lenox  to  be 
regent,  and  to  send  word  to  the  lords  of  the  King's  side,  that  he 
would  assist  them,  and  send  in  Mr.  Randolph  thither  with  the 
earl  of  I^enox  ;  and  yet  to  deal  with  the  lords  of  the  Queen's 
faction,  to  encourage  them  to  hold  forward  their  factious  course, 
because  the  said  Mr.  Randolph  had  a  great  dealing  with  the  house 
of  Hamilton,  as  he  who  convoyed  the  earl  of  Arran,  now  visited 
with  the  hand  of  God,  out  of  France  through  England  home  to 
Scotland,  to  assist  the  congregation.  He  knew  also  what  old  and 
long  hatred  had  been  betwixt  the  houses  of  Lenox  and  Hamilton; 
and  was  deliberately  directed,  secretly  to  kindle  a  fire  of  discord 
betvvLxt  two  strong  factions  in  Scotland,  which  could  not  be  easily 
quenched  ;  and  to  confirm  the  lord  Hume,  who  was  not  yet 
resolved  to  take  part  v/ith  the  Queen's  faction,  which  England 
thought  had  not  money  enough  yet  to  sustain  long  strife  against 
the  king's  faction. 

The  earl  of  Sussex  entred  the  Merse  with  his  forces,  and  took 
the  castle  of  Hume,  and  Fastcastle,  full  of  riches  and  precious 
moveables,  that  way  moving  the  lord  Hume  to  take  plain  part 
with  the  Hami'tons  and  the  Queen's  faction.  Whereby  it  may 
be  seen,  that  the  conclusion  was  to  hold  this  country  in  discord, 
by  the  craft  of  the  council  of  England  for  the  time,  as  t  have  before 
rnentioned  ;  and  which  was  now  put  in  practice,  incontinent  after 
the  decease  of  the  earl  of  Murray,  for  albeit  the  earl  of  Lenox 
had  his  lady,  children,  and  estate  in  England,  they  would  not 
credit  him,  supposing  he  would  be  a  true  Scotsman,  as  he  proved 
indeed  afterv.-ards. 

I  being  in  Berwick,  when  the  earl  of  Lenox  was  so  far  toward 
Scotland  to  be  regent,  I  thought  it  my  duty  to  visit  him.  for  at 
his  first  in-coming  before  the  marriage  of  his  son  the  lord  Darnly 
with  the  Queen,  he  sent  this  present  colonel  Stuart  for  my  brother 
Sir  Robert  and  me  ;  and  because  my  brother  was  absent,  I  went 
to  him  alone.     A  which  time  he  told  me,  '  That  his  long  absence 

117 


THE  MEMOIRS  OF 


out  of  the  country  had  made  him  as  a  stranger  to  the  condition 
of  the  country,  and  that  his  lady  at  his  parting  from  her,  had 
desired  him  to  take  my  brother's  council  and  mine  in  all  his  affairs 
as  her  friends  and  kinsmen  '  :  so  that  being  familiar  enough  with 
him  formerly,  I  visited  him  at  this  time,  and  told  him  the  state 
of  the  country.  I  dissuaded  him  from  taking  upon  him  the 
regiment,  fearing  that  it  might  cost  him  his  life,  as  matters  were 
like  to  be  handled,  as  I  should  inform  him  more  at  length,  being 
once  at  home.  As  for  myself,  I  promised  to  serve  and  assist  him, 
albeit  I  could  not  find  that  same  resolution  in  those  of  the  castle 
of  Edinburgh.  He  thanked  me,  promising  me  to  be  my  friend , 
so  far  as  lay  in  his  power,  upon  which  he  gave  me  his  hand ,  then 
he  enquired,  '  What  was  the  cause,  that  those  who  were  in  the 
castle  would  oppose  him  ?  '  I  answered,  '  For  no  particular 
prejudice  they  had  against  himself,  but  because  the  lords  who  had 
sent  for  him,  without  acquainting  them  therewith  were  not  their 
friends,  and  they  suspected  that  in  process  of  time,  they  would 
move  him  to  be  their  enemy.*  He  said, '  That  the  laird  of  Grange 
had  been  always  his  great  friend,  and  had  done  him  formerly  great 
kindness.  I  said,  '  I  hoped  he  should  yet  be  his  friend,  after 
that  he  had  settled  himself  in  the  regiment,  and  might  have  time 
to  be  rightly  informed  of  every  man's  part.' 

Returning  back  from  Berwick,  I  met  the  abbot  of  Dunfermling, 
sent  by  the  King's  lords  to  England,  to  meet  with  the  earl  of 
Lenox  in  his  passing  by.  His  chief  commission  was  (so  far  as  I 
could  afterward  inform  myselO  to  desire  the  Queen  of  England, 
to  deliver  the  Queen  of  Scotland  to  be  kept  by  the  King's  lords 
here  at  home,  seeing  that  she  would  not  proceed  otherwise, 
according  to  the  accusation  given  in  against  her,  the  time  my 
lord  Murray  was  there.  Whereto  the  Queen  of  England  made 
answer,  '  If  they  would  find  her  sufficient  pledges  for  the  security 
of  the  Queen's  Hfe,  she  would  deliver  her  to  be  kept  by  them.' 
The  abbot  alledged,  '  That  would  be  haid  to  do,  for  what  in  case 
the  Queen  die  in  the  mean  time  ?  '  She  answered,  '  My  lord,  I 
believed  you  had  been  a  wise  man  ;  you  would  press  me  to  speak 
what  is  no  ways  necessary  :  you  may  know,  that  I  cannot  but  for 
my  honour  require  pledges  for  that  end.  I  think  you  rnay  judge 
also  of  yourself  what  might  be  best  for  me.'  Her  meaning  in 
this  might  be  easily  judged  and  understood. 

The  earl  of  Lenox  came  to  Edinburgh  shortly  after  me  ;  and 
after  he  had  accepted  the  government,  his  first  eriterprize  was  to 
take  Brechin,  which  was  kept  by  some  companies  of  footinen, 
listed  by  the  earl  of  Huntly  to  assist  the  Queen's  faction.  These 
soldiers,  being  advertised  that  the  new  regent  was  coming  to 
pursue  them,  fled,  except  a  few  who  kept  the  kirk  and  steeple, 
who  were  all  hanged.  I  had  made  myself  ready  to  ride  with  the 
regent,  but  Mr.  Randolph  the  English  ambassador,  \yho  came  with 
the  earl  of  Lenox,  appearing  to  set  him  forward  with  his  power, 
hindred  me  from  prosecuting  that  intention,  fearing  that  I  would 

iiS 


SIR  JAMES  MELVILLE 


be  an  instrument  of  persuading  the  laird  of  Grange  and  those  in 
the  castle,  to  come  to  an  amicable  agreement  with  the  regent. 
For  if  those  of  the  castle  and  their  dependers  had  assisted  the 
regent,  the   Queen's  faction  were   so   few  and   weak,  that  they 
would  not  have  been  able  to  make  a  party  answerable  to  the  King's 
faction,  wn  j  were  greatest  in  number,  and  had  the  hearts  of  the 
subjects  on  their  side.     I  was  ver%'  loath  to  stay  behind  the  regent, 
both  because  I  had  promised  to  assist  him,  and  also  because  I  had 
obtained  a  promise  of  the  bishop  of  St.  Andrews,  of  the  lands  of 
Lethem,  given  by  the  earl  of  Murray  to  Mr.  Henry  Balnaves, 
whereof  I  had  no  lease,  but  possession,  by  reason  that  the  bishop 
was  for  the  titne  in  Dunbarton  forfaulted  :   so  the  said  lands  were 
in  the  regent's  power  to  dispose  to  any  other,  yet  he  had  promised 
that  I  should  enjoy  it.     I  told  Mr.  Randolph,  that  the  said  lands 
might  be  in  danger  to  be  disposed,  in  case  I  w-ere  absent  from  the 
regent.     '  Tush,'  says  he,    '  I  am  tutor  at  this  time  to  the  regent, 
I  shall  not  only  warrant  you  that,  but  shall  cause  you  get  a  better 
gift.'     In  the  mean  time,  he  promised  to  write  a  letter  unto  the 
regent  (who  had  already  taken  journey)  to  secure  the  same  to  me 
and  to  let  him  know  that  he  had  stayed  me,  to  draw  on  an  agree- 
ment between  my  friends  in  the  castle  and  him,  therefore  desiring 
him  not  to  dispose  the  said  lands  to  any  other.     But  though  I 
knew  him  to  be  a  double  dealer,  and  a  sower  of  discord,  yet  I  could 
not  believe  that  he  would  abuse  me  in  any  thing,  having  received 
so  gteat  obligations  from  me  during  his  banishment  in  France, 
for  religion,  during  the  reign  of  Queen  Mary.     Neither  would 
I  blot  paper  with  this  much  concerning  my  particular  were  it  not 
to   declare  the  strange  practices  of  princes  in  matters  of  state. 
Now  at  Mr.  Randolph's  desire  I  stayed.     His  first  proposition  to 
me,  was  to  desire  the  captain  of  the  castle  to  agree  with,  and  assist 
the  regent.     I  told  him, '  That  I  supposed  he  might  be  brought  to 
that  through  time,  but  not  so  hastily.*     And  that  same  answer 
I  brought  to  him  from  him,  with  a  request  from  the  laird   of 
Grange,  That  he  would  be  plain  with  him  ;    for  there  had  been 
also  great  friendship  betwixt  them  in  France.     After  some  cere- 
monies and  protestations  of  secrecy,  he  said,  '  Tell  your  friend 
this  from  Mr.  Randolph,  but  not  from  the  English  ambassador, 
That  there  is  no  lawful  authority  in  Scotland  but  the  Queen's  ; 
she  will  prevail  at  length,  and  therefore  it  is  his  interest,  as  the 
safest  course,  to  join  himself  to  her  faction.'     This  was  the  help 
he  made  to  the  regent,  who  believed  that  his  only  ambassage  was 
to  advance  his  aut'nority.     I  appeared  to  be  very  well  satisfied  with 
this  wholesom  advice,  and  w'ent  up  to  the  castle,  and  told  the 
captain  and  his  associates  no  more  than  I  assured  them  of,  at  my 
return  from  Berwick. 

The  laird  of  Grange  was  still  resolved  to  own  the  King's 
authority,  seeing  to  be  factious  under  pretext  of  owning  the 
Queen,  during  her  absence  and  captivity,  might  do  her  more  ill 
than  good,  and  occasion  great  bloodshed  among  the  subjects , 

119 


THE  MEMOIRS  OF 


by  the  malice  of  the  ringleaders  of  the  court  of  England,  and 
partialities  of  a  few  in  Scotland,  and  was  therefore  expecting  a 
fit  opportunity  of  making  agreement  betwixt  the  parties.  In 
the  mean  time,  I  went  up  and  down  betwixt  those  of  the  castle, 
and  Mr.  Randolph,  who  gave  me  another  commission,  to  wit,  In 
case  the  two  Queens  of  England  and  Scotland  agree  betwixt 
themselves,  to  appoint  an  Englishman  captain  of  the  castle  of 
Edinburgh,  and  send  unto  him  a  letter  subscribed  by  both  their 
hands  to  him,  to  render  up  the  same  to  him  to  whom  they  com- 
missionate  him  to  deliver  it,  whether  he  would  for  great  advantage 
to  himself  give  it  to  the  person  who  should  be  appointed  ?  This 
in  great  anger  he  refused  to  hear  ;  and  this  was  all  the  good  agi ce- 
ment that  Mr.  Randolph  and  I  made  during  the  regent's  absence. 
And  instead  of  minding  the  regent  not  to  dispose  the  foresaid 
lands,  he  dealt  with  the  tutor  of  Pitcur,  that  he  might  seek  a  gift 
of  the  said  lands  from  the  regent,  informing  him  that  I  wanted  a 
right  thereto.  When  the  regent  was  returned  to  Edinburgh,  I 
remembred  Mr.  Randolph  of  his  promise,  and  informed  him  a 
way  how  I  might  get  them.  He  answered.  That  he  found  the 
regent  so  stubborn,  and  of  so  ill  a  nature,  that  he  could  not  deal 
with  him.  Then  I  told  him.  That  I  was  abundantly  sensible  of 
his  practices  ;  and  that  whereas  it  appeared,  that  he  would  cause 
me  not  only  to  abandon  the  regent,  but  to  be  instrumental  in 
persuading  the  laird  of  Grange  to  be  upon  a  contrary  faction,  I 
would  not  be  that  instrument,  neither  would  I  desert  the  King's 
interest,  though  he  should  cause  all  the  rest  of  my  lands  to  be 
talcen  from  me. 

Seeing  that  Grange  could  not  be  moved  to  join  v/ith  the  Queen's 
faction,  according  to  the  desire  of  the  court  of  England  (for  the 
rest  of  that  kingdom  was  sorry  to  see  this  kind  of  dealing)  the 
English  ambassador  persuaded  the  regent  to  irritate  and  incense 
him,  by  all  manner  of  slights  done  to  himself,  and  his  dependers. 
In  the  mean  time  my  lord  duke,  the  earls  of  Argile  and  Huntly 
addressed  themselves  unto  him,  making  their  moan,  '  That 
they  being  noblemen  of  the  country,  of  considerable  interest, 
were  refused  to  be  admitted  into  the  society  of  the  rest,  who 
sought  their  ruin  under  pretext  of  the  King's  authority,  by  the 
regent,  the  earl  of  Morton,  and  others,  not  their  friends,  re- 
questing him  to  be  their  protector,  and  to  assist  them  during 
the  King's  minority  ;  telling  him  how  that  they  at  first  would 
gladly  have  joined  with  the  King's  lords,  for  maintaining  the 
King's  authority',  but  could  not  get  place,  nor  be  admitted.' 
Thus  Grange  finding  himself  neglected  with  the  King's  lords, 
and  sought  after  by  the  Queen's,  he  was  coiT.pelled  to  declare 
with  that  side  at  length,  having  with  him  the  lord  Hume,  male- 
content.  Also  secretary  Lidington,  and  Sir  James  Balfour 
spurring  him  on  to  take  that  course,  he  was  resolved  to  take  that 
side  for  his  next  refuge,  he  having  been  among  the  rest  sum- 
moned to  be  forfaulted. 

1 20 


SIR  JAMES  MELVILLE 


Now  the  two  furious  factions  being  in  this  manner  framed, 
their  hatred  and  rage  grew  greater  and  greater.  For  Mr.  Ran- 
dolph knew  the  animosities  which  were  among  the  nobility',  and 
the  nature  of  every  one  in  particular,  by  his  frequent  coming  and 
his  long  residence  in  Scotland.  And  among  the  ladies  he  had  a 
mother,  and  a  mistress,  to  whom  he  caused  his  Queen  frequently 
to  send  commendations  and  tokens.  He  also  used  his  craft  with 
the  ministers,  offering  gold  to  such  of  them  as  he  thought  could  be 
prevailed  with  to  accept  of  his  offer  ;  but  such  as  were  honest 
refused  his  gifts.  He  gave  largely  to  all  such  as  he  knew  were 
able  to  serve  him  in  his  design  of  kindling  this  fire  ;  and  his 
endeavours  were  so  successful,  that  the  two  parties  were  not  only 
stirred  up  to  fight  and  shed  one  another's  blood,  but  would  revile 
each  other  with  injurious  and  blasphemous  words,  and  at  length 
fell  to  the  down  casting  of  each  others  houses,  to  which  England 
gave  no  small  assistance,  having  sent  in  a  number  of  men  of  war 
to  throw  down  Hamilton.  This  was  occasioned  by  some  pro- 
bability that  appeared  of  a  reconciliation  of  the  two  factions,  by 
the  endeavours  of  some  of  the  most  prudent  ministers,  who  did 
all  they  could  to  prevent  the  ensuing  troubles.  And  they  forsaw 
that  this  prejudice  was  done  to  the  Hamiltons,  to  enrage  them, 
so  as  there  might  be  no  hope  of  agreement  when  they  should  see 
themselves  so  far  injured. 

Now  as  Nero  stood  upon  a  high  part  of  Rome  to  see  the  town 
burning,  which  he  had  caused  to  be  set  on  fire  ;  so  Mr.  Randolph 
delighted  to  see  such  a  fire  by  his  craft  kindled  in  Scotland,  which 
was  in  all  probability  like  to  burn  it  up.  And  in  his  letters  to 
some  of  the  court  of  England,  he  gloried  that  he  had  kindled  a 
fire  in  Scotland,  which  could  not  be  easily  extinguished.  Which 
when  it  came  to  the  knowledge  of  Sir  Nicholas  Throckmorton, 
he  wrote  to  my  brother  Sir  Robert  and  me,  advertising  us  how  we 
were  handled,  expressing  his  detestation  t50th  at  secretary  Cecil 
director,  and  Mr.  Randolph  as  executor.  All  the  honest  men  in 
England  were  sorry  at  it,  of  which  number  there  are  as  many 
within  that  country',  as  in  any  other  so  much  bounds  in  Europe. 

My  brother  and  I  did  shew  the  letters  we  had  received  from  Sir 
Nicholas,  to  the  laird  of  Grange,  and  so  many  within  the  castle  as 
we  knew  to  be  secret,  which  they  easily  believed,  as  being  men  of 
great  understanding,  who  had  noticed  Mr.  Randolph's  pro- 
ceedings. Whereupon  there  were  some  secret  meetings  drawn 
on  between  my  lord  Hume,  and  m.y  lord  Ruthven  as  near  kinsmen. 
The  lord  Ruthven  was  in  greatest  favour  with  the  regent  for  the 
time,  being  also  treasurer  ;  he  was  desired  to  come  and  speak  with 
my  lord  Hume,  during  the  hottest  of  the  civil  wars.  At  v.-hich 
time  secretary  Lidington,  and  my  brother  Sir  Robert,  came  in  to 
communing  with  the  lord  Ruthven,  after  that  he  and  the  lord 
Hume  had  spoken  a  space  together,  and  did  shew  him  how  the 
regent  was  used  by  England,  and  how  this  kingdom  was  abused 
by  the  tricks  ol  a  few,  for  advancing  their  selfish  ends  ; 

121 


THE  MEMOIRS  OF 


how  that  the  earl  of  Morton  had  desired  secretly  to  come  at  mid- 
night, accompanied  with  Mr.  Archibald  Douglas  to  the  castle  of 
Edinburgh,  and  had  entertained  long  conference  with  them, 
desiring  their  assistance,  and  he  should  chase  the  earl  of  Lenox 
back  to  England,  if  they  would  accept  and  acknowledge  him  for 
regent  in  his  stead  ;  which  they  of  the  castle  would  not  grant, 
looking  upon  the  earl  of  Lenox  as  a  true  Scotsman.  And  they 
declared  that  their  denying  to  assist  him  at  first,  was  his  being 
sent  for  and  brought  in  by  them.  That  therefore  they  feared 
at  the  first,  that  he  would  have  been  too  much  at  the  devotion  of 
the  court  of  England,  as  being  an  Englishman  ;  and  having  yet 
his  lady,  children,  and  lands  in  that  country  ;  and  moreover  that 
he  should  be  so  led  by  the  earl  of  Morton  and  their  factious 
enemies,  that  he  would  seek  their  utter  ruin,  both  because  that 
captain  Crawford  who  had  accused  the  secretary,  was  for  the  time 
servant  to  the  earl  of  Lenox,  and  alledged  that  he  had  a  commission 
from  the  said  earl  to  give  in  the  said  accusation.  And  that  which 
gave  matter  enough  to  my  lord  Hume,  was  the  bringing  in  of  the 
earl  of  Lenox  by  the  earl  of  Sussex,  and  the  taking  of  his  two 
houses  of  Hume  and  Fastcastle  all  at  one  time,  which  he  supposed 
not  to  have  been  done  without  the  earl  of  Lenox  his  knovv'ledge 
and  consent.  But  since  they  understood  that  the  earl  of  Lenox, 
and  the  whole  country  was  abused  by  England,  Mr.  Randolph 
the  agent,  and  the  earl  of  Morton,  they  were  resolved  both  to 
agree  themselves,  and  to  cause  all  Scotland  to  agree  with  the 
regent,  if  he  would  grant  them  reasonable  conditions. 

My  lord  Ruthven  was  very  glad  of  this  offer,  and  said  he  hoped 
to  bring  them  a  good  answer  from  the  regent ;  and  the  rather 
because  the  earl  of  Morton  was  absent,  being  malecontent  for 
denying  to  him  the  grant  of  the  bishoprick  of  St.  Andrew's,  which 
the  King's  house  and  the  regent's  might  ill  spare.  So  he  returned 
with  this  offer  to  the  regent,  who  much  relished  it ;  and  after 
twice  or  thrice  passing  betwixt  the  regent  with  the  lord  Ruthven, 
had  concluded  a  peace  quietly  in  their  minds,  none  being  as  yet 
made  privy  thereto.  But  as  ambassadors  are  great  spies,  and 
commonly  suspicious,  Mr.  Randolph  who  lay  at  Leith  having  his 
own  jealousies  of  an  attention  of  accommodation,  knew  the  only 
way  to  stop  it,  was  to  bring  again  the  earl  of  Morton,  who  he  knew 
would  violently  oppose  it,  and  use  the  utmost  of  his  endeavours 
to  render  that  design  ineffectual.  He  therefore  dealt  earnestly 
with  the  regent,  to  give  the  said  bishoprick  of  St.  Andrew's  to  the 
earl  of  Morton,  alledging  to  him,  "  That  the  Queen  his  mistress 
had  written  to  him  for  that  effect,  and  that  she  would  recompense 
it  to  him  with  greater  advantage.  That  he  would  cause  her  hand- 
writing to  come  to  him  thereabout,  and  that  she  would  be  much 
dissatisfied  if  he  refused  that  her  desire."  When  the  regent  had, 
upon  Mr.  Randolph's  desire,  granted  this,  he  incontinently 
advertised  the  earl  of  Morton  thereof,  who  immediately  came  to 
court ;  and  smelling  the  foresaid  design  of  agreement,  he  used  all 

122 


SIR  JAMES  MELVILLE 


the  contrary  practices  he  could  to  hinder  it  :   for  as  he  had  fished 
that  benefice  in  troubled  waters,  he  hoped  by  such  means  to  fish 
much   more.     And   finding  that   I   was  much  inclined   to   draw 
forward  the  accommodation,  one  of  his  devices  was,  to  cause  the 
council  to  vote  and  direct  the  earl  of  Buchan  to  take  me  prisoner 
out  of  my  own  house.     But  I  was  at  a  marriage  in  Fordel,  where 
the  said  earl  came,  with  whom  I  went  willingly,  though  I  had 
many  friends  there  as  offered  to  chace  him  back  again  without  his 
errand.     But   I   would   not   prejudge   my  just   cause  :      for   the 
eail  of  Buchan  was  of  a  gentle  and  discreet  nature,  and  assured  me 
they  had   nothing  to   lay  to  my  charge,   but  to   see  if  I   could 
be  a  good  instrument  of  concord.     He  desired  me,  when  I  was  in 
Leith,  to  send  up  to  the  castle  of  Edinburgh,  and  alledge  that  my 
life  v.as  in  hazard,  in  case  they  would  not  render  up  the  castle 
to  the  regent.     I  answered,  it  was  a  childish  thing  in  them  to 
propose  such  a  thing  to  me,  seeing  they  could  not  but  know  that 
my  friends  in  the  castle  were  angrier  at  me  than  they  were,  because 
I  did  not  take  part  with  them.     However,  the  laird  of  Grange  was 
dissatisfied,  when  he  heard  that  I  was  taken  :    for  he  knew  how 
far  I  was  injured,  seeing  I  had  several  times  persuaded  him  to 
take  part  with  the  regent  ;    and  how  far  I  had   reasoned  against 
the  secretary'  and   Sir  James  Balfour  in  their  proceedings  with 
the  Queen's  faction      For  seeing  she  was  captive,  so  that  neither 
could  she  help  them,  nor  they  her,  it  would  but  occasion  her  to  be 
the  stronglier  guarded    and  kept  more  straitly  in  England  :    for 
hearing  that  there  was  a  faction  risen  up  in  her  name,  it  would 
cause  them  to  suppose  that  she  was  in  hope  of  sudden  liberty, 
by    some   practices   with   the   subjects   of  England.     Sir   James 
Balfour  alledged,  That  her  Majesty  had  friends  in  France  and 
other  parts,  who  would  be  more  encouraged  to  do  for  her,  if  they 
understood  that  a  number  of  the  nobility  did  own  her  authority. 
I  said.  That  her  only  friends  were  in  England  and  France  ;   that 
those  who  were  in  England  durst  not  as  yet  appear,  seeing  there 
would  be  a  special  eye  held  over  them  ;    and  her  French  friends 
would  do  her  no  good,  the  Queen-mother,  who  had   the  chief 
rule  of  that  country,  being  her  great  enemy,  and  the  house  of 
Guise  neither  able  to  help  her,  nor  yet  were  they  her  sure  friends, 
as  I  shall  shew  more  at  length  anon.     I  was  declaring  that  the 
laird  of  Grange  was  angry  at  my  taking,  I  being  so  frank  for  the 
regent,  and  he  so  willing  to  join  with  him.     That  same  night  he 
sent  down  a  woman  from  the  castle  to  Leith,  with  a  ticket  to  me, 
'  That  he  was  resolved   to  come  that  same  night  at  mid-night, 
and  relieve  me  out  of  their  hands  ;    that  he  had  sent  that  woman 
to  know  how  I  was  kept,  and  where  I  was  lodged.'     The  regent's 
camp  lay  between  Leith  and  Edinburgh    and  many  of  the    noble 
men  and  barons  lodged  in  Leith  ;     for  every  one  had  not  pavilions 
to  lodge  in  the  camp.     The  laird  of  Grange  had  appointed  a  boat 
to  ly  at  Granton,  and  had  resolved  to  come  sailing  up  to  Leith 
harbour,  as  if  it  had  been  a  boat  come  from  Fife,  and  thought 

123 


THE  MEMOIRS  OF 


without  stroak  to  come  to  my  lodging  and  take  me  out  of  my 
keepers  hands,  and  go  up  the  water  again  to  a  part  where  he  had 
horsemen  in  readiness  to  carry  me  up  to  the  castle  with  him. 
But  I  would  upon  no  account  condescend  thereto,  assuring  him, 
'  That  I  was  in  no  danger  ;  and  that  my  lord  Buchan  had  promised, 
when  I  pleased,  to  let  me  slip  away  ;  which  I  would  not  do,  but 
desired  daily  to  come  to  a  trial.'  Many  of  the  lords  marvell'd 
wherefore  I  was  taken,  seeing  they  knew,  that  since  the  regent's 
entry  to  Scotland,  I  had  ever  assisted  him.  The  regent  himself 
was  much  therewith  dissatisfied  ;  so  that  after  enquiry  it  was 
found,  that  few  of  the  counsellors  knew  of  my  taking.  The  earl 
of  Mar,  a  true  nobleman,  said,  '  That  the  earl  of  Buchan,  for 
embracing  such  a  commission,  was  madder  than  the  former  earl 
his  father,  who  was  known  not  to  be  very  wise.'  But  the  earl  of 
Morton  sent  me  word,  '  That  nothing  should  ail  me  more  than 
his  own  heart.'  For  the  fashion  they  desired  me  to  find  caution, 
that  I  should  serve  the  King's  Majestj',  and  his  regent  :  and  so  I 
was  dismissed  and  never  brought  before  the  council.  Of  a  truth 
I  could  see  no  reason  to  set  up  two  factions  to  destroy  the  country, 
seeing  I  knew,  that  though  the  one  party  professed  to  be  for  the 
Queen,  it  was  so  far  from  conducing  to  her  advantage,  that  I 
knew  it  had  a  quite  contrary  effect  so  long  as  she  was  captive  : 
nor  yet  could  I  see  any  out-gate  for  those  who  professed  her 
authority,  and  who  were  compelled  thereto  for  their  own  defence  ; 
for  whereas  they  would  gladly  have  assisted  the  King's  lords  ,  if 
they  would  have  accepted  of  them,  finding  themselves  refused, 
necessity  drew  them  to  defend  themselves  under  the  name 
of  some  authority,  not  true  love  to  the  Queen  :  and  there- 
fore I  thought  them  the  less  to  be  relied  upon.  The  rest  of  my 
reasons,  why  the  Queen  could  expect  no  help  out  of  France  from 
her  own  friends,  nor  yet  from  the  Queen-mother  were  these  : 
"  The  Queen-mother  had  not  been  well  used,  so  long  as  our 
"  Queen's  husband  Francis  II.  lived.  The  council  and  states 
"  of  France  desired  not  the  union  of  this  isle."  For  a  proof 
hereof,  after  that  my  brother  Sir  Robert  (when  he  returned  the 
first  time  of  his  ambassage  out  of  England)  brought  the  hand- 
writings of  twenty-five  principal  earls  and  lords  in  England,  to 
set  the  crown  of  England  upon  the  Queen  of  Scotland's  head. 
For  the  captains  in  the  particular  shires  were  ready  named,  and 
by  those  lords  set  down  in  that  paper,  who  were  to  be  all  in  readi- 
ness to  march  forward  whenever  they  should  be  charged  ;  only 
they  waited  the  Queen's  opportunity,  and  advertisement  when  to 
stir.  Upon  this  intelligence,  the  Queen  incontinently  did  write 
to  France,  to  her  uncle  the  cardinal  of  Lorrain,  desiring  him  to 
send  to  her  one  of  his  most  secret  servants,  to  whom  she  was  to 
communicate  matters  of  that  weight  and  importance,  that  she 
could  not  hazard  to  send  them  in  writing  or  cyphers.  And 
accordingly  the  said  cardinal  sent  hither  one  of  his  most  familiar 
secretaries,  to  whom  the  Queen  caused  ray  brother  and  me  to 

124 


SIR  JAMES  MELVILLE 


declare  the  state  of  England,  and  the  great  party  she  had  there  to 
espouse  her  interest,  as  is  above  specified  ;  desiring  her  said 
uncle  to  send  his  advice  what  time  would  be  most  fit  for  her  to 
stir,  and  to  send  what  help  he  and  all  his  friends  could  procure. 
This  secretary  being  returned  to  his  master,  informed  him  of  the 
whole  matter.  The  cardinal  again,  to  insinuate  upon  the  Queen- 
mother,  and  to  appear  to  be  a  true  Frenchman,  acquainted  the 
Queen-mother  how  prejudical  to  the  crown  of  France  the  union  of 
this  isle  of  Great  Britain  would  be,  that  therefore  it  was  her  interest 
all  she  could  to  oppose  it.  He  therefore  advised  her  to  advertise 
the  Queen  of  England  of  the  said  intended  plot,  as  the  only  and 
most  effectual  means  for  preventing  it  ;  which  the  Queen-mother 
failed  not  to  do.  But  whatever  the  Queen  of  England's  thoughts 
of  the  truth  thereof  was,  she  appeared  to  give  no  credit  thereto, 
as  if  she  looked  upon  it  as  an  Italian  fetch  to  put  her  in  suspicion 
of  her  nobility.  This  account  I  had  from  the  Queen's  Majesty 
herself,  complaining  to  me  one  day  of  the  Cardinal's  unkind 
dealing  towards  her.  Therefore  I  thought  I  had  good  ground  to 
say,  '  There  was  no  help  to  be  looked  for  out  of  France.'  And 
the  duke  of  Alva,  who  was  in  Flanders,  had  plainly  refused  to  give 
her  any  help  till  the  King  his  master  would  command  him 
'  seeing,'  as  he  alledged,  '  he  had  work  enough  to  do  to  settle  his 
master's  own  subjects  in  Flanders.' 

These  were  the  arguments  which  I  used  to  move  my  friends 
to  agree  with  the  regent  :  And  my  endeavours  wanted  not  success, 
they  having  come  very  near  a  point  by  the  dealing  of  the  two  lords 
above  mentioned,  Hume  and  Ruthven,  assisted  by  secretary 
Lidington  ;  for  the  lord  Hume  would  then  do  nothing  without 
his  advice. 

But  after  that  the  earl  of  Morton  was  returned  to  the  court, 
and  had  by  Randolph's  means  obtained  the  bishoprick  of  St. 
Andrew's  ;  these  two  suspecting  the  probability  of  the  apparent 
agreement,  which  had  been  kept  secret  from  them,  they  fell  a 
plotting  some  way  to  hinder  the  same,  and  concluded  to  hold  a 
parliament,  wherein  to  forfault  all  the  Queen's  lords,  whereby 
the  regent  should  utterly  ruin  his  ancient  enemies  the  Hamiltons  ; 
and  there  would  be  a  bait  to  every  one  of  the  King's  lords,  seeing 
they  should  be  made  sharers  of  the  spoil,  and  so  each  of  them  get 
wealth  enough,  Mr.  Randolph,  for  their  encouragement,  gave 
them  assurance  of  assistance  from  England,  so  that  they  needed 
fear  no  resistance  from  their  adversaries.  The  earl  of  Morton 
had  made  a  great  faction  in  the  council,  partly  by  representing 
the  Queen's  lords,  as  intending  to  re-establish  popery  (upon  which 
alledgance  he  knew  he  would  make  them  odious  to  the  generality 
of  the  people)  but  especially  by  promising  each  of  his  party  a 
share  of  the  forfaulters  of  the  Queen's  lords  ;  so  that  they  were 
easily  brought  to  consent  to  a  parliament,  to  be  held  at  Stirling 
for  the  foresaid  effect. 

The  Queen's  lords,  to  be  equal  with  them,  held  another  parlia- 

K  125 


THE  MEMOIRS  OF 


ment  at  Edinburgh,  both  at  one  time,  upon  that  very  same  design 
of  forfaulting  the  King's  lords.  The  laird  of  Grange  in  the  mean 
time  took  great  displeasure  to  see  Scotsmen  so  furiously  bent 
against  each  other,  set  on  by  the  practices  of  England,  and  the 
extreme  avarice  of  some  particular  men  for  their  selfish  designs, 
who  intended  to  augment  their  estates,  and  raise  their  own  for- 
tunes upon  the  ruins  of  their  neighbours.  Therefore  he  sent 
for  the  laird  of  Ferniherst  his  son-in-law,  and  the  laird  of  Bucc- 
leuch,  father  to  this  present  lord,  who  loved  the  laird  of  Grange 
better  than  any  of  his  own  kindred  ;  which  laird  of  Buccleuch 
was  a  man  of  rare  qualities,  wise,  true,  stout,  and  modest.  These 
two  gentlemen  were  desired  to  come  well  accompanied,  and 
arrived  at  Edinburgh  in  an  evening  late.  The  laird  of  Grange  had 
already  devised  an  enterprize,  to  wit,  '  That  same  night  after  they 
'  had  supp'd  themselves,  and  baited  their  horses,  to  ride  all  night 

*  forward  with  them  to  Stirling,  to  be  there  early  in  the  morning 

*  before  any  of  the  lords  who  held  the  parliament  were  out  of  their 
'  beds,  hoping  by  the  intelligence  he  had  received,  assuredly  to 

*  surprize  them  before  they  could  be  advertised.'  All  the  lords 
and  council  found  the  advice  exceeding  good,  but  they  would  in  no 
wise  grant  that  he  should  ride  with  them,  alledging,  '  That  their 

*  only  comfort,  under  God,  consisted  in  his  preservation.'  He 
on  the  other  hand  alledged,  '  His  presence  would  be  necessary, 
'  for  he  was  acquainted  with  difficult  enterprizes,  and  feared  that 

*  they  would  not  follow  rightly  nor  carefully  his  directions.'  But 
they  engaged  to  follow  it  most  strictly,  and  would  not  suffer  him 
to  ride  with  them  ;  but  the  earl  of  Huntly,  my  lord  Arbroth,  and 
divers  others  went  forward  with  the  forces.  These  two  gentle- 
men had  brought  them,  and  were  at  Stirling  before  four  of  the 
clock  in  the  morning,  and  entred  the  town  of  Stirling  at  a  little 
passage,  led  by  a  townsman  called  George  Bell  ;  which  entry 
of  theirs  was  immediately  after  the  night-watches  had  retired  to 
their  rest.  They  divided  their  men,  and  appointed  such  as  they 
thought  meetest  to  wait  at  every  lord's  lodging,  and  a  company 
with  captain  Halkerston  to  wait  at  the  market-cross,  to  cause  good 
order  to  be  kept,  and  to  preserve  the  town-houses  from  being 
spoiled  ;  only  they  appointed  the  stables  to  be  cleansed  by 
Buccleuch  and  Ferniherst's  men,  giving  them  commands  not  to 
leave  one  horse  in  town  uncarried  away  with  them  ;  which  com- 
mission the  fourth-land  lads  forgot  not  punctually  to  execute. 
But  because  captain  Halkerston  came  not  in  due  time  with  his 
company  to  stand  where  he  was  appointed,  a  number  of  unruly 
servants  broke  up  the  merchants  booths,  and  run  here  and  there 
in  disorder  after  the  spoil,  leaving  their  masters  all  alone,  after 
they  had  taken  out  all  the  lords  from  their  lodgings,  and  were 
leading  them  captives  down  the  steep  causey  of  Stirling  on  foot, 
intending  to  take  their  horses  at  the  nether  port,  and  ride  to 
Edinburgh  with  their  prisoners.  But  those  within  the  castle 
being  alarmed  with  the  noise  of  the  townsmen,  crying  out  because 

126 


SIR  JAMES  MELVILLE 


of  the  spoil  taken  from  them,  imagining  what  shame  they  would 
endure  if  they  did  not  shew  themselves  men  ;  and  perceiving  the 
disorder  of  tlieir  enemies,  they  came  down  fearlessly  upon  them, 
and  rescued  all  the  prisoners  save  the  regent,  whom  one  came  and 
shot  behind  his  back,  comjnanded,  as  was  alledged,  by  my  lord 
of  Paisly.  The  laird  of  Wormiston  was  the  taker  of  the  regent, 
and  had  been  ordained  by  the  laird  of  Grange  to  wait  upon  him, 
to  save  him  from  his  particular  enemies  :  For  they  all  had  engaged 
to  him,  ere  they  went  from  Edinburgh,  not  to  kill  one  man,  else 
he  would  not  have  left  them.  Wormiston  was  also  killed  against 
the  regent's  will,  who  cr^'ed  continually  to  save  him,  who  had 
done  what  he  could  for  his  preservation.  The  regent  died  not 
suddenly,  but  some  days  after,  and  made  a  very  godly  end.  They 
who  had  lost  this  fair  enterprize  for  want  of  Grange's  conduct, 
had  enough  to  do  to  save  themselves,  and  had  been  all  taken, 
had  not  those  in  Stirling  wanted  horses  to  pursue  after  them. 
For  those  who  had  taken  the  horses,  did  ride  forward  with  all 
possible  speed,  leaving  their  masters  in  danger  to  do  for 
themselves. 

When  they  were  returned  back  to  Edinburgh,  they  were  very 
unwelcome  guests  to  the  laird  of  Grange,  who  greatly  lamented 
the  regent's  slaughter.  He  said  openly,  *  If  he  knew  who  had 
'  done  that  foul  deed,  or  had  directed  it  to  be  done,  his  own  hand 
'  should  have  revenged  it'  And  whereas  before  he  used  to  be 
meek  and  gentle,  he  could  not  now  command  himself,  but  bursted 
out  into  harsh  language,  calling  them  '  disorderly  beasts.'  For 
he  knew  the  regent  was  inclined  to  peace,  and  was  only  ignorantly 
driven  on  by  the  earl  of  Morton,  and  Mr.  Randolph's  practices 
to  hold  the  said  parliament,  to  the  hindrance  of  concord  and 
agreement  :  Therefore  his  intention  was  to  bring  all  the  King's 
lords  to  the  castle  of  Edinburgh,  and  to  have  made  an  agreement 
betv\ixt  them  and  the  other  faction  before  they  had  parted.  But 
God  in  his  providence  would  not  permit  this,  for  further  punish- 
ment of  our  wickedness  :  for  the  parliaments  held  forward,  and 
each  one  of  them  foi faulted  others.  The  King's  lords  came  and 
lay  at  Leith,  and  the  Queen's  within  the  town  and  castle  of 
Edinburgh. 

Mr.  Randolph  would  have  had  Morton  made  regent  instead 
of  Lenox  ;  but  the  lords  liked  better  of  the  earl  of  Mar,  and 
chose  him. 

For  a  little  time  there  was  hot  skirmishing  betwixt  Leith  and 
Edinburgh,  and  extreme  hatred  betwixt  the  tw'O  factions,  and 
great  cruelties  exercised,  where  they  could  be  masters  of  one 
another.  And  frequently  the  Marshal  of  Berwick  came  to  Leith 
to  assist  Mr.  Randolph  privately,  though  publickly  to  find  fault 
with  him  for  his  proceedings  ;  which  my  lord  of  Mar's  friends 
perceived,  and  himself  at  last,  v/hercupon  he  began  to  grow  colder 
in  the  quarrel,  and  withdrew  himself  to  Stirling,  advising  with  his 
friends  what  was  meetest  to  be  done  ;  alledging  that  he  could  see 

127 


THE  MEMOIRS  OF 


nothing  but  the  wreck  of  the  country,  under  pretext  of  owning 
the  King  and  Queen's  authority,  while  neither  Kings  nor  Queens 
was  in  any  of  their  minds,  but  only  put  on  by  their  own  partialities 
of  ambition,  greediness,  and  vengeance,  England  kindling  up 
both  the  parties,  and  then  laughing  them  all  to  scorn. 

After  this  conference,  captain  James  Cuningham,  ser^'ant  to  my 
lord  of  Mar,  a  discreet  gentleman,  desired  a  secret  meeting  with 
my  brother  Sir  Robert.  In  the  mean  time  the  most  part  of  the 
King's  lords  went  to  Stirling,  where  the  regent  was  living.  My 
lord  of  Morton  went  to  Dalkeith  ;  and  my  lord  Lindsay  lay  in 
Leith.  When  the  wars  grew  colder,  and  notice  thereof  taken  by 
the  court  of  England,  a  new  ambassador  was  hasted  to  Scotland, 
to  wit>  Mr.  Henry  Killigrew,  an  old  acquaintance  of  mine  :  for 
Mr.  Randolph  was  returned  home,  because  he  had  not  such  credit 
with  the  earl  of  Mar  as  to  do  service  to  those  he  served,  and  had 
lost  the  favour  of  both  the  factions  ;  for  his  double-dealing  was 
discovered,  he  having  no  credit  but  with  the  earl  of  Morton. 

This  new  ambassador  being  arrived  at  Leith  upon  his  way 
toward  Stii-ling,  where  the  regent  remained  for  the  time,  he  sent 
up  to  the  castle  of  Edinburgh  to  see  if  I  was  there  ;  for  they  had 
told  him  In  Leith,  that  I  was  newly  come  from  Fife.  He  desired 
that  I  would  come  and  speak  with  him,  which  I  did,  and  convoyed 
him  unto  Cramond,  reasoning  together  all  the  way  upon  such 
matters,  as  he  said  he  had  in  commission,  chiefly  how  he  might 
be  a  good  instrument  to  agree  the  differences  that  were  between 
the  two  parties  ;  albeit  I  knew  there  was  nothing  less  in  his  mind, 
at  least  in  his  commission.  He  said,  he  had  the  Queen  his  mis- 
tress's commands  to  deal  with  both  parties  for  concord,  but  that 
he  was  most  concerned  in  those  of  the  castle,  albeit  that  out- 
wardly he  behoved  first  to  go  to  the  regent,  being  in  civility 
engaged  to  give  him  the  prerogative  ;  yet  in  effec  t  he  said,  my 
friends  in  the  castle  were  those  to  them  he  v.as  chiefly  directed, 
that  they  should  be  preferred  both  by  his  first  salutation  bj'  me 
to  them,  and  by  t^^'o  familiar  letters,  the  one  from  my  lord  of 
Leicester  to  the  laird  of  Grange,  and  the  other  from  secretary 
Cecil  to  secretary  Lidington,  desiring  me  to  intreat  them  to  follow 
the  good  counsel  given  therein  by  the  said  lords,  who  loved  them 
entirely  for  their  virtue  and  old  acquaintance.  He  willed  me  to 
tell  them,  that  after  he  had  declared  his  commission  to  the  regent, 
he  would  come  back  again  to  them,  and  at  length  declare  his 
commission  to  them  from  her  Majesty. 

It  appeared  to  me  that  he  had  intelligence  how  that  Mr.  Ran- 
dolph's double-dealing  had  been  discovered,  therefore  he  seemed 
to  find  fault  with  him  in  many  things,  though  in  general  he  excused 
him  as  far  as  he  could,  until  I  had  adjured  him  upon  the  long  and 
great  familiarity  that  had  been  betwixt  us,  to  deal  plainlier  with 
me.  I  told  him  he  might  serve  his  mistress  truly  enough,  without 
casting  me  and  my  friends  upon  a  wrong  side,  which  might  be 
afterwards  our  ruin,  who  deserved  better  at  his  hands  than  to 

128 


SIR  James  melfille 


put  us  in  such  dangers,  as  if  we  were  untoward,  dishonest,  or 
uncounsellable,  as  Mr.  Randolph  had  done,  forgetting  the 
fraternity  of  religion  so  well  grounded  among  us  during  his 
banishment  in  France  for  religion  :  There  he  was  compelled  to 
confess  to  me,  that  his  commission  and  his  mind  went  not  one 
way,  and  that  he  was  employed  against  his  will,  though,  as  a 
servant,  he  durst  not  disobey  his  princess,  he  said  he  would  give 
me  his  loving  counsel  and  warning  very  freely. 

He  said  that  the  council  of  England  neither  built  their  course 
here  upon  the  late  regent,  nor  yet  upon  this,  but  entirely  upon  the 
earl  of  Morton,  as  well  of  their  own  plot  laid  down  long  since,  as 
by  the  information  of  Mr.  Randolph,  who  hath  confirmed  them 
in  that  opinion,  so  that  they  will  not  alter  for  no  contrary  per- 
suasion. Willing  my  friends  and  me  to  join  our  course,  and  band 
with  the  earl  of  Morton,  or  else  to  expect  no  friendship  from  the 
court  of  England,  but  hurt  and  ruin  so  far  as  they  might.  For 
albeit  he  was  not  regent,  they  knew  that  he  had  a  great  faction  in 
the  country,  which  they  were  resolved  what  they  could  to  increase  ; 
so  that  whoever  was  regent,  he  should  get  little  or  nothing  done 
without  his  consent.  In  this  I  thought  he  dealt  plainly  ;  my 
friends  of  the  castle  were  of  that  same  judgment,  yet  they  could 
not  find  in  their  heart  to  join  with  him,  albeit  he  sought  their 
friendship,  offering  to  hold  up  the  Queen's  authority  ;  for  they 
thought  his  course  unsure  for  the  King,  and  settling  of  the  estate,, 
he  being  too  much  addicted  to  England. 

After  that  this  ambassador  had  been  with  the  regent  in  Stirling,. 
and  was  come  back  again  to  Edinburgh,  he  told  the  rest  of  his 
commission  to  them  of  the  castle,  to  whom  he  used  himself  but 
like  an  ambassador  as  he  was  directed.  He  said  that  he  found 
them  more  reasonable  than  the  regent's  party.  Then  he  went 
to  Dalkeith  to  meet  with  the  earl  of  Morton,  and  thereafter  re- 
turned to  Edinburgh,  to  wait  all  fit  occasions  and  informations 
how  to  proceed  conform  to  the  tenor  of  his  instructions.  He 
had  commandment  to  stay  in  Scotland  for  a  time,  to  see  if  he 
could  obtain  as  much  credit  as  to  serve  their  turn  who  sent  him. 
And  because  I  was  of  his  greatest  acquaintance,  he  came  with  me 
to  my  house  in  Halhill,  and  stayed  a  few  days  there  to  refresh  his 
spirits  ;  and  after  that  I  convoyed  him  back  again  to  Edinburgh, 
he  shewed  me  some  articles  of  his  instructions,  one  of  which  was, 

"  Item,  If  the  captain  of  the  castle  will  condescend,  that  all  the 
"  differences  now  in  question  among  the  Scots,  be  referred  to  be 
"  decided  befoie  us  and  our  council,  as  the  rest  of  the  King's 
"  lords  have  granted  already,  we  shall  be  his  good  friend,  maintain 
"  him  in  his  ofBce,  and  give  him  an  honourable  pension  "  But 
he  plainly  refused  to  comply  with  this,  saying,  he  would  prejudge 
his  prince  and  country  ;  so  that  this  and  his  other  former  refusals 
cost  him  his  life  afterwards. 

About  this  time  my  lord  regent  sent  a  letter  to  me,  with  all 
diligence  to  come  to  him.     At  my  coming  he  made  a  heavy  moan 

129 


THE  MEMOIRS  OF 


for  the  civil  troubles  that  were  kindled  in  the  country,  by  the 
craft  and  malice  of  some  in  England  and  some  in  Scotland,  taking 
the  colour  of  this  or  that  authority,  and  yet  were  only  moved  with 
their  own  particularities,  to  the  hurt  both  of  King,  Queen  and 
country  ;  desiring  me  that  I  would  go  unto  the  castle  of  Edin- 
burgh, and  shew  them,  as  of  my  own  head,  and  not  as  from  him, 
that  I  understood  he  perceived  albeit  too  late,  how  that  we  are 
led  upon  the  ice,  and  that  it  was  the  interest  of  all  true  Scotsmen 
to  agree  that  the  state  may  be  settled.  And,  says  he,  you  may 
desire  them  to  seek  to  treat  with  me  thereabout  ;  which  you  may 
assure  them  they  will  obtain,  if  they  will  seek  the  same.  And 
offer  your  self  to  be  the  instrument  to  bring  on  a  good  agreement 
between  them  and  me,  which  shall  by  God's  grace  take  good 
effect  upon  your  return  with  their  reasonable  offers  and  answer. 
Whereupon  I  went  to  Edinburgh,  and  found  them  all  inclined 
to  peace  and  quietness,  with  little  need  of  persuasions  thereto  ; 
for  they  were  near  a  point  before  with  my  lord  of  Lenox,  and  some 
former  conference  had  been  betwixt  my  brother  and  captain 
Cuningham  thereabouts. 

At  my  return  to  the  regent,  he  was  veiy  glad,  saying,  he  knew 
that  these  honest  gentlemen  were  ever  willing  to  cease  from  civil 
discord,  seeing  the  Queen  was  captive,  to  whom  their  owning  her 
authority  could  do  no  good  but  evil  ;  but  that  they  had  been  by 
crafty  practices  cast  against  their  wills  upon  a  contrary  course. 
Then  he  enquired  upon  what  conditions  the  captain  and  his 
friends  would  agree  ?  I  said,  that  the  laird  of  Grange  would  not 
sell  his  duty  to  his  Prince  and  country  for  advantage,  but  would 
serve  the  King  and  his  country  to  settle  the  estate,  so  long  as  the 
Queen  was  detained  in  England  ;  and  if  God  pleased  to  grant  her 
liberty,  they  doubted  not  but  she  and  her  son  should  agree  be- 
twixt themselves,  to  which  all  honest  and  good  subjects  would 
consent.  They  for  their  parts  desired  no  man's  lands  nor  goods, 
but  only  liberty  peaceably  to  enjoy  their  own  livings.  Only 
Grange  desired  that  the  regent  would  cause  to  pay  certain  debts 
contracted  for  repairing  of  the  castle  and  artillery  ;  which  con- 
ditions the  regent  promised  to  fulfil,  and  to  be  an  assured  friend  to 
Grange  and  those  in  the  castle.  And  without  any  other  cere- 
monies he  called  the  laird  of  TuUibardine,  and  after  he  declared 
unto  him  how  far  we  had  proceeded,  he  put  his  hand  in  mine 
and  did  swear  the  peace  in  presence  of  the  said  TuUibardine, 
who  had  also  been  a  good  instrument  in  the  said  agreement, 
together  with  Mr.  Clement  Little  afterwards  provost  of  Edin- 
burgh. No  man  was  privy  thereto  but  my  lady  Mar  and  captain 
James  Cuningham. 

After  this  the  regent  went  to  Edinburgh  to  convene  the  lords 
of  council,  to  shew  them  the  calamities  that  the  civil  wars  produced, 
and  to  let  them  see  how  necessary  an  agreement  would  be  to  the 
whole  country.  In  the  mean  time  until  the  appointed  council- 
day,  he  went  to  Dalkeith,  where  he  was  nobly  treated  by  the  lord 

130 


SIR  JAMES  MELVILLE 


of  Morton  ;  shortly  after  -which  he  took  a  vehement  sickness, 
which  caused  him  to  ride  suddenly  to  Stirling,  where  he  died 
regreted  by  many.  Some  of  his  friends  and  the  vulgar  suspected 
he  had  gotten  wrong  at  his  banquet. 

The  earl  of  Morton,  after  the  decease  of  the  earl  of  Mar,  was 
made  regent,  England  helping  it  with  all  their  might.  So  soon 
as  he  was  chosen  he  sent  for  me,  declaring  how  that  against  his 
mind  and  inclinations  the  lords  had  burdened  him  with  that 
troublesome  office,  whereof  seeing  he  behoved  to  accept,  he  could 
wish  that  he  might  stand  the  country  and  commonwealth  in  some 
stead.  First  he  would  desire  the  help  of  all  good  and  honest  men, 
to  draw  on  peace  and  concord  to  the  quieting  the  state,  praying 
me  as  one  for  whom  he  had  ever  entertained  special  favour,  to 
travel  with  my  friends  of  the  castle  for  that  effect,  and  to  persuade 
them  to  go  forward  with  him,  as  they  were  minded  to  do  with 
the  earl  of  Mar  ;  assuring  me  that  none  of  the  former  regents  had 
at  any  time  been  more  willing  than  he  was  presently  to  put  an 
end  to  the  civil  troubles,  nor  that  I  should  remember  less  the 
partialities  past,  and  that  the  regent  should  not  revenge  the  earl  of 
Morton's  quarrels.  But  whoever  would  serve  the  King  and  be 
his  friend,  he  would  embrace  them  upon  what  faction  soever  they 
had  formerly  been.  And  he  was  willing  to  give  whatever  con- 
ditions the  earl  of  Mar  had  offered  ;  that  I  should  have  the  priory 
of  Pittenweem  for  my  pains  ;  the  laird  of  Grange  the  bishoprick 
of  St.  Andrew's,  and  castle  of  Blackness  ;  and  every  one  within 
the  castle  should  be  restored  to  their  lands  and  possessions  as 
before. 

It  was  very  hard  to  bring  on  this  agreement  with  the  earl  of 
Morton,  for  the  evil  opinion  which  was  conceived  of  him,  and  the 
hurtful  marks  they  supposed  by  proofs  and  appearances  that  he 
would  shoot  at,  being  by  nature  covetous  and  too  great  with 
England,  and  ever  jealous  that  the  King  would  be  his  ruin,  con- 
cerning which  a  lady,  who  was  his  whore,  had  shewn  him  the 
answers  of  the  oracles.  Yet  the  laird  of  Grange,  who  was  ever 
willing  to  see  concord  in  the  country,  was  easily  persuaded  : 
the  lord  Hume  and  Lidington  made  some  resistance  at  the  first, 
but  were  also  at  length  content.  So  that  after  I  had  past  t\\'Ice  or 
thrice  bet\veen  them,  they  appeared  to  be  agreed  in  their  hearts  : 
and  the  laird  of  Grange  said,  he  would  cause  all  the  rest  of  the 
Queen's  faction  to  agree  with  the  regent  ;  but  he  refused  to  take 
the  bishoprick  of  St.  Andrew's  and  the  castle  of  Blackness,  desiring 
nothing  but  his  own  lands. 

When  I  returned  to  the  regent  with  this  answer  conform  to 
his  desire,  he  was  marvellously  glad  ;  but  when  I  declared  that 
the  laird  of  Grange  would  be  a  good  instrument  to  cause  all  the 
rest  of  the  Queen's  faction  to  agree  also  with  him  ;  he  answered, 
that  was  not  meet.  And  when  I  reasoned  against  him,  and 
shewed  him  how  that  I  had  spoken  in  his  name,  that  he  was 
resolved  to  have  agreed  all  Scotland,  and  that  Grange  had  no 

131 


<THE  MEMOIRS  OF 


quarrel  of  his  own,  but  to  'help  a  number  of  noblemen  who 
required  his  piotecticn  duiing  ihe  Kirg's  minority,  end  had 
requested  the  regent  once  to  agree  with  them  altogether,  for 
Grange's  honour  ;  and  afterwards  he,  and  all  these  of  the  castle 
should  band  with  him  and  lay  aside  all  other  bands.  The  regent 
answered,  and  said,  James,  I  will  be  plain  with  you,  it  is  not  my 
interest  to  agree  with  them  all,  for  then  their  faction  will  be  as 
strong  as  ever  it  was,  thereby  they  may  some  day  circumvent  me, 
if  they  please,  therefore  it  is  my  game  to  divide  them.  And 
moreover  there  have  been  great  troubles  in  this  country  this 
while  bygone,  and  during  them  great  wrongs  and  extortions 
committed,  for  the  which  some  fashion  of  punishment  must  be 
made,  and  I  would  rather  that  the  crimes  should  be  laid  upon  the 
Hamiltons,  the  earl  of  Huntly,  and  their  adherents,  than  upon 
your  friends  ;  and  by  their  wreck  I  will  get  more  profit,  than  by 
that  of  those  in  the  castle,  that  have  neither  so  great  lands  to 
escheat  to  us,  as  the  reward  of  our  labours.  Therefore  shew 
Grange  and  your  friends,  that  either  they  must  agree  without  the 
Hamiltons,  and  the  earls  of  Huntly  and  Argile  ;  or  the  said  lords 
will  agree  without  him,  and  these  of  the  castle.  To  this  I 
answered,  That  I  understood  him,  his  speeches  being  very  plain. 
With  this  I  went  again  to  the  castle,  and  rehearsed  our  whole 
reasoning.  Grange  said  it  was  neither  godly  or  just  dealing,  to 
lay  the  blame  upon  those  that  were  richest  for  their  lands  and 
goods,  and  not  upon  theiTi  who  were  guiltiest,  seeing  these  noble- 
men had  been  ever  willing  to  agree,  after  that  the  Queen  was  kept 
in  England,  but  could  not  be  admitted.  And  yet  if  now  they 
would  abandon  him,  and  agree  without  him  and  those  in  his 
company,  he  had  deserved  better  at  their  hands  ;  yet  he  had 
rather  that  they  should  leave  and  deceive  him,  than  that  he  should 
do  it  unto  them. 

When  I  had  given  this  return  to  Morton,  and  that  he  perceived 
that  Grange  stood  stiff  upon  his  honesty  and  reputation,  he 
appeared  to  like  him  the  better,  and  seemed  as  if  he  had  been 
resolved  to  go  forward  with  those  of  the  castle.  He  sent  up 
Carmichael,  at  my  desire,  to  hear  out  of  their  own  mouths  so  far 
as  I  had  spoken  in  their  name  :  they  of  the  castle  likewise  sent 
Pittarrow  to  the  regent  to  hear  out  of  his  own  mouth,  so  far  about 
the  agreement  as  I  had  said  to  them  in  his  name.  This  I  did 
for  my  discharge,  whatsoever  might  come  afterwards. 

The  regent  asked  at  what  time  the  castle  of  Edinburgh  should 
be  delivered  to  him  ?  I  said,  within  half  a  year.  What  security, 
said  he,  shall  I  have  for  it  ?  I  said,  I  should  be  a  pledge  if  he 
would  accept  me.  Then  he  enquired  wherefore  I  sought  so 
long  delay  ?  I  answered  in  the  first  place,  till  all  articles  and 
promises  might  be  performed,  and  likewise  because  though  the 
laird  of  Grange  was  ever  esteemed  an  honest  man,  yet  by  wrong 
reports  and  practices  the  ministers  have  been  stirred  up  to  cry 
out  and  preach  against  liim  ;  therefore  to  enable  him  to  serve  for 


13a 


SIR  JAMES  MELVILLE 


the  future,  it  would  be  some  satisfaction  to  his  mind,  to  let  the 
world  see,  that  as  well  after  the  agreement  as  before,  he  should 
be  esteemed  alike  honest  and  worthy  to  keep  the  house,  and  then 
at  the  time  appointed  the  regent  should  be  intreated  to  receive 
the  castle  out  of  his  hands.  He  appeared  to  be  very  well  content 
with  this  manner  of  dealing,  and  gave  me  great  thanks  for  the 
travel  I  had  made,  desiring  me  to  go  home,  and  he  in  the  mean 
time  would  convene  the  rest  of  the  noblemen  of  his  side,  and 
acquaint  them  with  his  proceedings,  and  take  their  advice  and 
consent  to  this  good  work,  which  he  doubted  not  to  procure  ; 
and  thereafter  he  said  he  would  send  for  me  again,  and  put  the 
form  of  the  agreement  in  writing. 

But  he  took  immediately  another  course,  and  sent  a  fit  man  to 
the  Hamiltons,  the  earls  of  Huntly,  Argile,  and  their  dependers, 
and  offered  an  accommodation  to  them,  if  they  would  be  satisfied 
to  make  an  agreement  by  themselves,  not  including  Grange  and 
those  in  the  castle  :  which  condition  they  accepted  of,  without 
making  therein  any  ceremonies,  whereof  they  by  their  letters 
instantly  from  Perth  advertised  the  laird  of  Grange  ;  lamenting 
that  the  straits  they  were  redacted  to,  had  compelled  them  to 
accept  that  agreement  which  the  regent  had  offered  them,  praying 
him  not  to  take  it  in  evil  part,  seeing  they  had  no  house  nor  strength 
to  retire  themselves  to.  They  gave  him  many  thanks  for  the  help 
and  assistance  he  had  made  them,  which  they  said,  they  would 
never  forget  so  long  as  God  would  lend  them  their  lives. 

This  was  the  recompence  this  good  gentleman  obtained  for  the 
great  help  he  had  given  the  lords,  the  hazard  he  had  run  upon  their 
account,  and  the  charges  he  had  been  at  in  aiding  them  ;  not 
imagining  that  the  regent  would  be  so  malicious  as  to  cast  him  off, 
and  not  accept  of  his  friendship,  which  he  incontinently  offered, 
after  the  rest  were  agreed.  But  from  that  time  forth  the  regent 
would  hear  none  of  his  offers,  persuading  the  rest  of  his  faction 
that  these  of  the  castle  were  so  proud  and  wilful,  that  they  refused 
to  serve  the  King,  or  acknowledge  him  as  regent.  And  this  was 
published  and  preached  ;  and  yet  the  contrary  was  true,  for  they 
would  have  taken  any  reasonable  appointment.  What  rage  was 
in  the  regent's  mind  for  greediness  of  their  lands,  and  goods  ;  or 
what  should  have  induced  him  to  bring  an  army  from  England 
to  besiege  the  castle  of  Edinburgh,  I  know  not,  it  being  to  the 
dishonour  of  his  prince  and  country,  seeing  a  little  before,  the 
castle  was  offered  to  the  earl  of  Rothes,  to  be  instantly  delivered 
unto  his  hands,  to  be  kept  to  the  regent's  behoof  ;  which  was 
refused.  So  that  apparently  he  had  some  other  fetch  in  his  head, 
than  a  man  esteemed  so  wise  should  have  had,  seeing  he  might 
have  obtained  his  intent  without  the  help  of  England,  having  all 
Scotland  at  his  devotion,  saving  that  few  number  within  the  castle 
who  would  likewise  have  agreed  upon  any  reasonable  condition. 

Thus  the  castle  of  Edinburgh  was  straitly  besieged  with  an 
English  army  under  the  conduct  of  the  marshal  of  Berwick, 

133 


THE  MEMOIRS  OF 


assisted  by  all  Scotland.  These  within  seeing  they  could  not  be 
received  upon  any  composition,  debated  so  long  as  they  had 
victuals  and  water  :  for  their  draw-well  dried  by  the  droughty 
summer,  and  they  had  no  other  water  but  what  they  fetched, 
letting  men  with  cords  down  over  the  walls  and  rock  of  the  castle 
to  a  well  on  the  west-side,  which  was  afterward  poisoned,  whereby 
so  many  as  escaped  the  shot  died,  and  the  rest  fell  deadly  sick. 
Yet  the  laird  of  Grange  undertook  with  eight  persons  to  keep  the 
castle  untaken  by  force,  of  the  which  number  were,  the  lord 
Hume,  my  two  brothers  Sir  Robert  and  Sir  Andrew,  the  laird  of 
Pittarrow  and  his  brother  Patrick.  This  resolution  being  taken, 
the  laird  of  Cleish  and  Matthew  Colvil  his  brother  were  sent  to 
the  castle,  under  the  pretext  of  making  offers  of  agreement  ; 
but  their  design  was  to  get  intelligence  of  the  state  of  the  house, 
and  to  seduce  the  soldiers  who  were  yet  alive  ;  which  they  did, 
so  that  some  fled  out  over  the  walls,  and  others  were  shut  forth. 
For  the  captain  thought  the  house  in  a  better  condition  both  for 
victuals  and  otherwise,  when  they  were  forth. 

The  marshal  of  Berwick  seeing  no  appearance  to  succeed, 
entred  into  contention  with  the  ambassador,  alledging  that  the 
Queen  his  mistress  would  be  dishonoured,  and  said,  he  would 
wait  no  longer  ;  whereupon  they  '  without  '  entred  on  a  new 
communion,  and  sent  up  again  the  laird  of  Cleish  to  offer  them 
good  conditions  to  come  forth  with  their  armour  and  bag  and 
baggage,  which  was  agreed  to,  and  that  they  should  be  restored  to 
their  lands  ;  and  because  for  the  time  these  were  in  other  mens 
possession,  it  was  referred  to  themselves  whether  they  would  go 
to  England  with  the  marshal  of  Berwick,  or  remain  in  Scotland 
among  their  friends,  until  the  promise  made  them  of  restoring 
them  to  their  lands  might  be  fulfilled.  The  Englishmen  desired 
that  the  castle  should  be  put  in  their  hands  ;  but  Grange  sent 
secretly  to  captain  Hume  and  captain  Crawford,  desiring  them 
to  come  and  lye  within  the  bulwark  betwixt  the  house  and  the 
Englishmen  ;  and  to  those  he  delivered  the  castle,  and  his  person 
to  the  marshal,  to  go  with  him  to  England,  until  all  promises 
might  be  kept  to  him  and  the  rest  by  the  Queen  of  England's 
means.  In  this  manner  they  came  forth,  after  that  George 
Douglass,  natural  brother  to  the  regent,  had  received  the  house  ; 
they  had  all  their  swords  and  weapons  about  them,  and  were  three 
days  at  liberty.  My  brother  Sir  Robert  lay  with  me  at  his  own 
lodging  ;  the  laird  of  Grange  and  the  secretary  Lidington  re- 
mained yet  with  the  marshal  of  Berwick  at  his  lodging  for  their 
greater  security,  because  that  the  people  of  the  town  of  Edin- 
burgh were  greatly  their  enemies.  For  except  a  few  that  tairied 
within  the  town  during  the  civil  troubles  between  the  parties  that 
lay  in  Edinburgh  and  Leith,  the  most  part  of  the  richest  men  and 
merchants  left  the  town  and  went  to  Leith,  to  take  part  with  the 
regent  ;  therefore  their  houses  were  spoiled,  upon  which  account 
they  did  bear  great  hatred  to  those  in  the  castle. 

134 


SIR  JAMES  MELVILLE 


But  at  the  end  of  three  days  they  were  all  laid  hands  upon, 
and  taken  as  prisoners.  For  some  of  their  most  malicious  enemies 
put  it  easily  in  the  regent's  head,  and  the  ambassador's,  that  it 
was  well  done  to  move  the  Queen  of  England  to  cause  to  deliver 
the  whole  prisoners  to  the  regent,  to  be  disposed  upon  at  his 
pleasure,  alledging  they  had  no  surety  but  a  naked  promise, 
which  they  needed  not  to  keep  ;  and  because  those  of  the  :astle 
confided  wholly  on  the  maishal's  promise,  the  ambassador  was 
advised  to  prevent  the  marshal's  writing  ;  so  that  ere  he  did  write 
to  the  Queen  thereabout,  her  letter  came  to  him  to  deliver  up  the 
prisoners  who  had  been  in  the  castle  to  the  regent.  And  he 
durst  not  disobey  her  command,  the  same  being  so  peremptory, 
though  he  obeyed  it  with  much  regret  and  great  reluctancy,  by 
reason  of  his  promise,  and  returned  malecontent  to  Berwick. 
And  they  in  the  castle  were  committed  to  strait  ward  ;  and  there- 
after new  letters  were  purchased  by  the  regent  from  the  Queen 
that  he  might  execute  them,  which  she  willingly  permitted,  for 
she  would  gladly  have  been  quit  of  my  lord  Hume  and  Grange, 
as  being  two  true  Scotsmen,  unwonable  to  England  to  do  any 
thing  prejudical  to  their  King  or  country  ;  and  of  the  secretary 
Lidington,  but  he  died  at  Leith  after  the  old  Roman  fashion,  as 
was  said,  to  prevent  his  coming  to  the  shambles  with  the  rest. 

As  for  the  lord  Hume,  the  regent  durst  not  meddle  with  him, 
he  standing  in  awe  of  Alexander  Hume  and  Manderston 
Coldingknows,  and  the  goodman  of  Northberwick,  and  the  rest 
of  that  name,  who  boasted  with  very  proud  language.  He  died 
shortly  after,  being  warded  in  the  castle  of  Edinburgh.  Mr. 
Killigrew  the  English  ambassador,  desired  no  other  reward  for 
his  labour  but  the  preservation  of  my  brother  Sir  Robert's  life, 
for  he  was  obliged  formerly  to  him  and  me.  The  composition 
was  kept  to  all  the  rest  of  the  mean  gentlemen.  The  prior  of 
Coldingham  and  laird  of  Drylaw  were  afterwards  set  at  liberty. 
Sundry  of  the  captains  of  Berwick  went  up  to  the  castle  by  the 
breach  beat  down  in  the  fore-wall  by  the  cannons,  that  they  might 
say  that  they  had  won  the  maiden-castle.  But  this  was  after  that 
the  house  was  delivered  over  to  the  regent's  brother  ;  yet  he 
would  not  suffer  them  to  enter  there  with  any  number. 

On  this  manner  both  England  and  the  regent  were  reveftged 
upon  that  worthy  champion  Grange,  whom  they  had  sometimes 
in  great  estimation,  who  had  done  such  notable  service  in  France, 
being  captain  of  an  hundred  light  horsemen,  that  he  was  extolled 
by  the  Duke  of  Vendome,  Prince  of  Cond6,  and  Duke  of  Aumale, 
governors  and  colonels  then  in  Picardy  ;  that  I  heard  Henry  H. 
point  unto  him  and  say,  '  Yonder  is  one  of  the  most  valiant  men 
of  our  age.'  Also  the  king  used  him  so  familiarly,  that  he  chose 
him  commonly  up  on  his  side  in  all  pastimes  he  went  to  ;  and 
because  he  shot  far  with  a  great  shaft  at  the  buts,  the  king  would 
have  him  to  shoot  two  arrows,  one  for  his  pleasure.  The  great 
constable  of  France  would  never  speak  to  him  uncovered,  and  that 

I3S 


THE  MEMOIRS  OF 


King  gave  him  an  honourable  pension,  whereof  he  never  sought 
payment.     England  had  proof  of  his  valour  frequently  against 
them  upon  the  borders,  where  he  gave  them  divers  ruffles.     In 
a  single  combat  he  vanquished  the  earl  of  Rivers's  brother  between 
the  two  armies  of  Scotland  and  England.     He  afterwards  debated 
manfully  the  liberty  of  his  country  against  the  Frenchmen,  when 
they  intended  to  erect  the  land  into  a  province.     He  had  lately 
refused  the  demands  of  Mr.  Randolph  and  Mr.  Killigrew,  as  is 
before  mentioned,  and  had  reproached  both  the  said  ambassadors 
of  false  and  deceitful  dealings.     Last  of  all,  he  had  refused  to  put 
the  castle  into  the  hands  of  Englishmen,  and  therefore  because 
he  was  true  to  his  prince  and  country,  it  cost  him  his  life.     For 
they  boasted  plainly  to  bring  down  that  giant's  pride  who,  as  they 
alledged,  presumed  to  be  another  Wallace.     Albeit  contrariwise  he 
was  humble,  gentle,  and  meek  like  a  lamb  in  the  house,  but  like 
a  lion  in  the  fields.     He  was  a  lusty,  strong  and  well  proportioned 
personage,   hardy  and   of  a   magnanimous   courage,   secret  and 
prudent  in  all  his  enterprizes,  so  that  never  one  that  he  made  or 
devised  misgave  where  he  was  present  himself.     When  he  was 
victorious  he  was  very  merciful,  and  naturally  liberal,  an  enemy 
to  greediness  and  ambition,  and  a  friend  to  all  men  in  adversity. 
He  fell  frequently  in  trouble  in  protecting  innocent  men  from 
such  as  would  oppress  them,  so  that  these  his  worthy  qualifications 
were  also  partly  causes  and  means  of  his  wreck  :    for  they  pro- 
moted him  so  in  the  opinion  of  many,  that  some  loved  him  for 
his  religion,  uprightness,  and  manliness  ;   others  again  depended 
upon  him  for  his  good  fortune  and  apparent  promotion,  whereby 
divers  of  them  hoped  to  be  advanced  and  rewarded,  supposing 
that  offices  and  honours  could  not  fail  to  fall  to  him.     All  which 
the  wanted  through  his  own  default,  for  he  had  fled  from  avarice, 
and  abhorred  ambition,  and  refused  sundry  great  offices,  even  to 
be  regent,  which  were  in  his  off'er,  as  well  as  other  great  benefices 
and  pensions.     Thus  wanting  place  and  subsistance  to  reward, 
he  was  soon  abandoned  by  his  greedy  and  ambitious  dependers  : 
for  when  they  saw  him  at  a  strait,  they  drew  to  others,  whom  they 
perceived  to  aim  at  more  profitable  marks.     On  the  other  hand, 
he  was  as  much  envied  by  those  who  were  of  a  vile  and  unworthy 
nature,  of  whom  many  have  made  tragical  ends  for  their  too  great 
avarice  and  ambition,  as  shortly  after  did  the  earl  of  Morton. 
This  gallant  gentleman  perished  for  being  too  little  ambitious 
and  greedy.     But  so  soon  as  the  King's  majesty  came  to  perfect 
age,   and   had   understood   how   matters   had    gone   during   his 
minority,  he  caused  to  restore  the  heirs  of  the  said  laird  of  Grange, 
who  he  said  was  wrecked  contrary  to  the  appointment  made  with 
the  marshal  of  Berwick  ;   and  also  ordered  his  bones  to  be  taken 
up,  and  buried  honourably  in  the  ancient  burial-place  of  his 
predecessors  in  Kinghorn. 

After  his  death  the  marshal  of  Berwick  took  so  heavy  displeasure, 
finding  himself  so  far  affronted,  because  of  the  breach  of  hi 

136 


SIR  JAMES  MELVILLE 


promise,  and  that  the  appointment  which  he  had  made  with  the 
castle  of  Edinburgh  was  not  kept  ;  that  he  would  tarry  no  longer 
in  his  office  at  Berwick,  seeing  he  judged  he  had  lost  his  credit  and 
reputation  ;  for  he  was  a  plain  man  of  war,  and  loved  Grange  so 
dearly,  that  at  his  request  he  spared  to  cast  down  the  houses  of 
Seaton  and  Nidrie,  when  he  came  in  to  cast  down  the  house  of 
Hamilton.  Likewise  all  the  officers  of  Berwick  lamented  the  loss 
of  so  worthy  a  captain. 

The  regent  triumphed  for  a  while,  because  of  the  great  assistance 
that  England  made  to  him,  which  they  had  never  done  to  any  of 
the  former  regents,  but  rather  stirred  up  factions  and  parties 
against  them  to  keep  the  country  in  discord.  The  causes  that 
moved  them  so  to  assist  him,  were.  That  they  believed  the  old 
jealousies  betwixt  the  Stuarts  and  Douglasses  should  by  him  be 
brought  to  an  end,  the  young  King  being  in  his  hands,  to  be 
disposed  of  at  pleasure  ;  the  Queen  his  mother  being  already 
captive  in  their  hands  ;  which  two  only  could  join  Scotland  and 
England  in  one  monarchy.  Therefore  above  all  others,  the 
guiders  of  the  court  of  England  for  the  time  wished  them  out  of  the 
way,  as  well  for  the  great  offices  done  by  them  both  to  King  and 
Queen,  as  for  the  desire  they  had  to  destroy  that  race  and  line, 
to  place  some  of  their  own  friends  to  succeed  to  the  crown  of 
England.  So,  thinking  that  the  regent's  mark  in  Scotland,  and 
theirs  in  England  was  comformable,  they  established  and  fortified 
him  in  his  regiment,  though  God  in  his  goodness  suffered  not  their 
practices  to  take  effect.  For  the  regent  wanting  heirs  of  his  own 
body,  and  having  no  competitors  to  stay  him  from  doing  any 
thing  that  he  pleased,  when  he  thought  the  time  meet,  he  delayed 
matters,  and  in  the  mean  time  bent  his  whole  study  how  to  gather 
riches,  and  how  to  suck  out  substance  from  England  and  Scotland, 
moving  England  thereby  too  late  to  repent  that  they  had  not 
preserved  the  laird  of  Grange  to  be  an  awe  over  the  regent,  as  he 
kept  the  King  to  be  an  awe  over  them.  And  as  he  was  crafty, 
so  he  was  fearful  and  slow  of  nature,  and  thought  the  earl  of  Angus 
his  brother's  son  yet  too  young,  and  not  capable  to  comprehend 
his  hidden  intention,  and  therefore  he  was  long  of  resolving.  In 
the  mean  time  serving  his  own  turn  with  England,  as  they  did 
with  all  the  world,  when  they  were  like  to  have  any  trouble  among 
themselves,  or  with  their  neighbours  ;  then  he  compelled  them 
to  send  him  money,  which  they  were  necessitated  to  do,  though 
sore  against  their  heart,  with  a  hidden  despite  and  secret  hatred 
at  his  slowness  on  the  one  part  and  covetousness  on  the  other. 

This  regent  held  the  country  in  an  established  estate,  under 
great  obedience,  better  than  for  many  years  before  or  since.  For 
there  was  not  another  earl  of  Morton  to  stir  up  the  factious  sub- 
jects, as  he  used  to  do  against  the  rest  of  the  regents,  which  made 
him  so  proud  and  disdainful,  that  he  despised  the  rest  of  the 
nobility.  And  using  no  man's  counsel  but  his  own,  he  became 
ungrateful  to  all  his  old  friends  and  servants.     And  being,  under 

137 


"THE  MEMOIRS  OF 


pretext  of  justice,  used  to  commit  divers  wrongs  and  extortions, 
he  caused  to  begin  a  process  against  the  laird  of  Fintry,  because 
many  years  before  a  thief  had  made  his  escape  out  of  his  hands  ; 
and  against  the  laird  of  Seafield  for  a  piece  of  land  ;  and  against 
Mr.  James  Thornton  for  his  benefice.  Thus  as  he  had  lost  the 
favour  of  England,  so  he  did  by  such  ways,  the  hearts  of  all 
Scotland,  but  only  of  George  Auchinleck  and  Alexander  Jardan. 
As  for  the  laird  of  Carmichael,  he  lamented  to  me  grievously  of 
his  ingratitude  toward  him,  and  was  minded  to  leave  him,  until 
I  gave  him  counsel  to  help  himself  by  the  hurtful  experience  of 
the  laird  of  Grange,  and  Walter  Melville  my  brother  who  v/as  one 
of  the  gentlemen  of  the  earl  of  Murray's  chamber  ;  which  two 
lost  his  favour  so  soon  as  he  became  regent.  And  likewise  I  told 
him,  that  very  way  I  lost  him  myself  ;  for  we  had  been  long 
familiar  with  him,  and  had  assisted  him  in  all  his  troubles  :  But 
when  he  was  regent,  we  would  with  our  wonted  freedom  reprove, 
admonish,  and  tell  him  his  faults  ;  whereby  we  lost  his  favour. 
And  others  who  formerly  had  ever  been  against  him,  came  in  and 
flattered  him  in  all  his  proceedings,  and  stooped  very  low  to  him, 
calling  him  Your  Grace  at  each  word.  These  men,  I  said  won 
him,  and  we  lost  him.  And  apparently,  said  I  to  Carmichael, 
you  follow  the  like  foolish  behaviour  as  we  did,  therefore  you 
must  take  up  another  kind  of  doing.  And  seeing  your  friend  is 
become  regent,  imagine  that  you  was  never  acquainted  with  him 
before,  but  that  you  aie  entring  to  serve  a  new  nciaster.  Cast 
never  up  your  old  and  long  service,  cringe  low,  Grace  him  at 
every  Word,  find  no  fault  with  his  proceedings,  but  serve  all  his 
affections  with  great  diligence  and  continual  waiting,  and  you 
shall  be  sure  of  a  reward.  Otherwise  all  your  former  time  spent 
in  his  service  will  be  lost,  and  he  will  hate  you,  and  take  a  despite 
at  you,  which  may  bring  on  afterwards  a  greater  wreck.  Car- 
michael gave  me  great  thanks,  and  his  hand  that  he  would  follow 
this  counsel  ;  which  he  afterward  did  very  punctually,  and  so 
became  a  greater  courtier  than  ever,  and  was  employed  and 
rewarded,  and  had  credit  to  do  pleasure  to  his  friends  :  but  I 
found  him  not  thankful  afterwards  to  me  for  my  counsel. 

Now  the  young  King  was  brought  up  in  Stirling,  by  Alexander 
Erskine  and  my  lady  Mar.  He  had  four  principal  masters,  Mr. 
George  Buchanan,  Mr.  Peter  Young,  the  abbots  of  Cambuskenneth 
and  Dryburgh,  descended  from  the  house  of  Erskine.  The  laird 
of  Drumwhasel  was  master  of  the  houshold.  Alexander  Erskine 
was  a  gallant  well  natur'd  gentleman,  loved  and  honoured  by  all 
nien  for  his  good  qualities  and  great  discretion,  no  ways  factious 
nor  envious,  a  lover  of  all  honest  men,  and  desired  ever  to  see  men 
of  good  conversation  about  the  prince,  rather  than  his  own  nearer 
friends,  if  he  found  theni  not  so  meet. 

The  laird  of  Drumwhasel  again  was  ambitious  and  greedy, 
his  greatest  care  was  to  advance  himself  and  his  friends.  The 
two  abbots  were  wise  and  modest.     My  lady  Mar  was  wise  and 

138 


SIR  JAMES  MELVILLE 


sharp,  and  held  the  King  in  great  awe  ;  and  so  did  Mr.  George 
Buchanan.  Air.  Peter  Young  was  more  gentle,  and  was  loath  to 
offend  the  King  at  any  time,  carrying  himself  warily,  as  a  man  who 
had  mind  of  his  own  weal,  by  keeping  up  his  Majesty's  favour. 
But  Mr.  George  was  a  stoick  philosopher,  who  looked  not  far 
before  him  :  a  man  of  notable  endowments  for  his  learning  and 
knowledge  in  Latin  poesy,  much  honoured  in  other  countries, 
pleasant  in  conversation,  rehearsing  at  all  occasions  moralities 
short  and  instructive,  whereof  he  had  abundance,  inventing  where 
he  wanted.  He  was  also  religious,  but  was  easily  abused,  and  so 
facile,  that  he  was  led  by  every  company  that  he  haunted,  which 
made  him  factious  in  his  old  days  ;  for  he  spoke  and  wrote  as 
those  who  were  about  him  informed  him  :  for  he  was  become 
careless,  following  in  many  things  the  vulgar  opinion  :  for  he 
was  naturally  popular,  and  extremely  revengeful  against  any  man 
who  had  offended  him,  which  was  his  greatest  fault.  For  he  did 
write  despiteful  invectives  against  the  earl  of  Monteith,  for  some 
particulars  that  were  between  him  and  the  laird  of  Buchanan. 
He  became  the  earl  of  Morton's  great  enemy,  for  that  a  nag  of  his 
chanced  to  be  taken  from  his  servant  during  the  civil  troubles, 
and  was  bought  by  the  regent,  who  had  no  will  to  part  with  the 
said  horse,  he  was  so  sure  footed  and  so  easy,  that  albeit  Mr. 
George  had  oft-times  required  him  again,  he  could  not  get  him. 
And  therefore  though  he  had  been  the  regent's  great  friend  before, 
he  became  his  morral  enemy,  and  from  that  time  forth  spoke  evil 
of  him  in  all  places,  and  at  all  occasions  Drumwhasel  also, 
because  the  regent  kept  all  the  casualities  to  himself,  and  would 
let  nothing  fall  to  others  who  were  about  the  King,  became  also 
his  great  enemy  ;  and  so  did  they  all  who  were  about  his  Majesty. 
The  regent  again  ruling  all  at  his  pleasure,  made  no  account 
of  any  about  the  King,  until  a  discreet  gentleman  called  Mr. 
Nicholas  Elphinston  advertised  him.  That  the  King  had  no 
kindness  for  him,  advising  him,  albeit  too  late,  to  bestow  part  of 
his  gold  unto  so  many  of  the  King's  servants,  as  were  thought  to 
be  most  wonable,  seeing  he  was  envied  of  many,  and  hated  of  every 
man,  especially  by  those  who  were  in  Stirling  about  the  King. 
He  gave  to  one  that  was  in  mean  rank  twenty-five  pieces  of  gold, 
at  twenty  pound  the  piece.  What  he  gave  to  others  I  cannot  tell  : 
but  such  as  had  spoken  ill  of  him  before,  durist  not  altei  their 
language,  because  of  the  King's  wit  and  good  memory,  who  could 
check  any  that  he  perceived  had  first  spoken  evil,  and  then  began 
to  speak  good  again  ;  as  his  Majesty  had  done  to  one  of  the  com- 
pany, alledging.  That  he  had  changed  his  coat,  as  I  was  afterward 
informed  .  so  that  the  regent  was  too  long  in  dealing  part  of  his 
gold  to  those  about  his  Majesty,  who  increasing  in  years  and 
knowledge,  sundry  gentlemen  began  to  look  after  service,  and 
turned  on-waiters.  Among  others,  James  Stuart  son  to  the  lord 
Ochiltree,  a  young  man  of  a  busy  brain,  had  an  aspiiing  spirit, 
and  through  time  won  great  favour  and  credit  with  his  Majesty. 

139 


THE  MEMOIRS  OF 


And  though  he  was  not  well  liked  by  those  of  the  castle  of  Stirling, 
yet  he  was  the  more  overseen,  because  he  gave  continually  evil 
information  to  his  Majesty  of  the  earl  of  Morton  ;  and  so  did  also 
my  lord  Robert  earl  of  Orlcney,  who  had  been  warded,  and  hardly 
handled  by  the  regent,  for  some  double  dealing  with  Denmark 
as  was  alledged. 

The  regent  being  in  this  manner  brought  in  disgrace  with  his 
Majesty,  when  he  was  upon  the  height  of  the  wheel,  the  earls  of 
Argile  and  Athole  were  secretly  practised,  and  drawn  to  Stirling 
by  Drumwhasel,  with  the  consent  of  Alexander  Erskine  master 
of  Mar,  and  Mr.  George  Buchanan  ;  by  whose  advice  and  counsel 
his  Majesty  was  easily  moved  to  depose  the  regent  from  his  office  : 
Who  yielded  easilier  thereto  than  any  man  would  have  believed, 
against  the  opinion  of  his  friends  retiring  himself  to  the  house  of 
Lochlevin  within  the  loch,  for  the  surety  of  his  person  until  he 
might  understand  what  was  like  to  follow  thereupon,  and  what 
might  be  the  next  best  for  him  to  do. 

The  King's  Majesty  having  attained  unto  the  age  of 
years,  ordained  a  council  to  sit  at  Edinburgh  for  ordering  the 
affairs  of  the  realm.  The  earl  of  Athole  was  made  chancellor, 
because  the  lord  Glammis  was  a  little  before  slain  in  Stirling,  by 
the  earl  of  Crawford,  as  was  suspected,  though  he  denied  the  deed, 
and  purged  himself  thereof  as  far  as  he  could  The  earl  of  Argile 
and  the  master  of  Mar  stayed  in  Stirling  with  the  King's  Majesty. 

During  the  time  that  this  new  council  sat  in  Edinburgh,  the 
earl  of  Morton,  who  was  quiet  in  Lochlevin,  making  the  walks 
of  his  garden  even,  his  mind  was  in  the  mean  time  occupied  in 
crooked  paths,  plotting  how  to  be  brought  again  to  be  master, 
of  the  court  ;  which  was  accomplished  upon  a  night  at  midnight 
When  he  came  to  the  gates  of  the  castle  of  Stirling,  they  w  re 
opened  unto  him  by  the  two  abbots,  and  a  faction  that  they  had 
drawn  in  there  with  them  ;  albeit  the  master  of  Mar  and  the  earl 
of  Argile  made  what  resistance  they  could,  where  the  master's 
eldest  son  died  in  the  throng  :  yet  the  enterprisers  prevailed, 
and  brought  in  again  the  earl  of  Morton,  and  put  out  the  earl  of 
Argile,  the  master  of  Mar,  Drumwhasel,  and  such  others  as  they 
misliked  ;  and  so  made  a  new  change  at  court  ;  where  the  earl  of 
Morton  handled  the  matter  so  discreetly  and  moderately  as  he 
could,  that  the  alteration  should  not  appear  to  be  over  sharp  or 
violent.  The  new  chosen  council  scattered  incontinently,  some 
of  them  retiring  home,  and  some  joined  with  the  earl  of  Alorton, 
hoping  never  to  see  a  turn  again. 

About  this  time  came  out  of  France  my  lord  of  Aubigny,  who 
was  afterward  made  duke  of  Lenox,  who  was  brother's  son  to  the 
earl  of  Lenox,  and  obtained  afterward  great  credit  and  favour. 

James  Stuart  of  Ochiltree,  of  whom  I  formerly  made  mention, 
assisted  him  through  process  of  time  to  persuade  the  King's 
Majesty  to  desire  to  ride  out  of  Stirling,  and  make  a  progress 
among  the  rest  of  his  subjects  ;  which  the  earl  of  Morton  could 


140 


SIR  JAMES  MELVILLE 


not  resist,  supposing  that  it  laj'  in  his  power  to  frame  the  court  at 
his  pleasure.  For  hy  his  great  wealth  he  was  resolved  to  gain  so 
many  as  he  judged  necessary,  and  so  by  the  multitude  of  his 
friends  to  bear  out  the  business,  however  the  court  was  ruled  after 
he  had  obtained  a  discharge  and  acquittance  of  his  intromission. 
For  though  during  the  time  that  he  was  regent,  he  was  always 
strongest  about  the  King  ;  yet  my  lord  Aubigny  and  James 
Stuart  were  most  in  favour,  who  by  their  continual  rounding  in 
the  King's  ear  against  the  earl  of  Morton,  engendred  at  last  a 
greater  dislike  in  the  King  of  him  than  he  had  before.  And 
as  James  Stuart  was  the  stirrer  up  of  the  other,  so  afterward 
when  he  found  the  time  convenient,  he  took  occasion  to  accuse 
the  said  earl  before  the  council,  of  the  late  King's  murder.  Where- 
upon the  earl  of  Morton  was  made  prisoner,  and  sent  to  the  castle 
of  Edinburgh,  and  afterward  to  the  castle  of  Dunbarton  ;  which 
was  thought  strange,  in  respect  of  his  many  friends  that  were  in 
court  for  the  time,  who  were  then  found  to  be  but  friends  to  his 
fortune.  For  he  was  loved  by  none,  and  envied  and  hated  by 
many  ;  so  that  they  all  looked  through  their  fingers  to  see  his 
fall. 

England  was  also  angry  at  him  for  the  time,  because  of  his 
slowness  to  answer  their  turns,  which  they  hoped  for  at  his  hands, 
having  put  the  King  and  country  in  his  power.  Yet  they  made 
some  offer  to  assist  him  ;  which  occasioned  to  hasten  his  ruin. 
For  they  sent  down  seventeen  companies  to  the  borders,  boasting 
to  send  a  greater  number,  and  to  declare  open  war,  in  case  the 
earl  of  Morton  was  not  set  at  liberty,  and  the  lord  Aubigny  put 
out  of  Scotland.  Mr  Randolph  was  sent  in  with  this  Embassage. 
His  Majesty  again  having  these  two  young  counsellors  about  him, 
who  knew  of  no  perils,  raised  a  taxation  to  pay  soldiers,  and 
caused  to  make  a  proclamation  for  every  man  to  be  in  readiness 
upon  a  call  :  which  moved  the  English  to  retire,  and  leave  off 
endeavouring  any  more  his  assistance  ;  encouraging  thereby  such 
as  were  deadly  enemies  to  the  earl  of  Morton  to  ride  to  Dunbarton, 
with  looo  raised  and  hired  men,  together  with  their  own  frj^ends, 
to  bring  the  earl  of  Morton  back  again  to  Edinburgh,  to  undergo 
an  assize.  Some  of  the  earl's  friends  convened,  to  take  him  out 
of  their  hands  ;  but  found  not  themselves  strong  enough.  They 
might  have  done  it,  had  it  not  been  the  forces  which  had  been 
newly  levied,  occasioned  by  the  threatenings  which  England  had 
made.  Being  brought  to  Edinburgh,  he  found  few  friends  to 
appear  or  act  for  him.  His  gold  and  silver  was  transported  long 
before,  by  his  natural  son  James  Douglas,  and  one  of  his  servants 
called  John  Macmorran.  It  was  first  carried  in  barrels,  and 
afterward  hid  in  some  secret  parts  ;  part  whereof  was  given  to  be 
kept  by  some  who  were  looked  upon  as  his  friends,  who  made  ill 
accompt  of  it  again  :  so  that  the  most  part  thereof  lighted  in  bad 
hands,  and  himself  was  so  destitute  of  money,  that  when  he  went 
through  the  street  to  the  Tolbooth,  to  undergo  hisas  size,  he  was 

L  141 


THE  MEMOIRS  OF 


compelled  to  borrow  twenty  shillings  to  distribute  to  the  poor, 
who  asked  alms  of  him  for  God's  sake.  The  assize  condemned 
him  to  death,  as  being  art  and  part  in  the  King's  murder,  and  as 
being  of  council  with  the  earl  of  Bothwell,  who  brought  him  out  of 
banishment,  when  he  was  absent  for  the  slaughter  of  David  Riccio. 
He  granted  that  he  was  made  privy  thereto  ;  but  had  no  hand  in 
devising  thereof.  And  as  concerning  the  young  King,  he  owned 
that  he  purposed  to  send  him  to  England  for  his  weal,  that  he 
might  the  rather  obtain  his  right  to  the  crown  of  England,  being 
within  the  country,  and  brought  up  among  them.  He  died 
resolutely,  and  had  ended  more  perfectly,  if  he  had  declared  and 
confessed  his  worldly  practices  and  fetches  to  nourish  the  civil 
troubles,  partly  at  the  devotion  of  England,  and  partly  for  his  own 
particular  profit,  during  the  government  of  the  first  three  regents, 
which  occasioned  great  blood-shedding,  that  commonly  cries  to 
heaven  for  vengeance. 

During  the  King's  young  years,  the  partialities  were  so  great, 
and  the  whole  country  so  disturbed  by  the  two  several  parties, 
who  alledged  to  fight  and  strive  for  the  King  and  the  Queen, 
being  then  captive  in  England,  and  the  King  yet  very  young  ; 
that  many  perceived  them  to  be  but  factious,  ambitious,  avaritious, 
greedy,  worldly,  wretched  persons.  Both  parties  were  craftily 
stirred  up  and  kept  in  trouble  by  one  only  faction  in  England, 
who  had  that  Queen's  ear,  intending  the  wreck  as  well  of  our 
King  as  Queen,  to  advance  some  of  their  friends  to  inherit  the 
crown  of  England,  which  occasioned  a  great  outcry  against  our 
foolish  contentions. 

After  that  the  earl  of  Morton,  the  last  of  the  four  regents,  was 
deposed  ;  the  King's  Majesty,  being  young,  took  the  government 
into  his  own  hands.  My  lord  of  Aubigny,  being  made  lord 
Dalkeith,  and  afterward  duke  of  Lenox,  was  chief  about  his 
Majesty,  and  James  Stuart,  formerly  mentioned  ;  who  afterward 
took  unto  himself  the  stile,  and  then  the  eaildom  of  Arran,  thinking 
that  he  had  done  great  service,  and  deserved  well,  for  accusing  and 
wrecking  the  earl  of  Morton.  He  married  the  earl  of  March's 
relict. 

The  duke  was  of  nature  upright,  just  and  gentle  ;  but  wanted 
experience  in  the  state  of  the  country.  At  first  he  was  wholly 
guided  by  the  said  James  Stuart  and  his  wife  ;  who  both  began 
to  envA'  him,  and  therefore  they  endeavoured  how  they  might  cast 
him  off,  that  they  might  attain  to  the  sole  management  of  affairs  ; 
and  for  this  end  they  gave  him  bad  advice,  and  sinister  inform- 
ations against  sundry  of  his  best  friends.  And  being  likewise 
•educated  a  papist,  and  suspected  to  be  at  the  duke  of  Guise's 
devotion,  and  therefore  a  dangerous  man  to  be  about  his  Majesty  ; 
the  whole  country'  was  stirred  up  against  him  ;  England  by  their 
ambassador  helping  to  kindle  the  fire.  Mr.  David  Macgil  and 
Mr.  Henry  Keer  were  his  chief  counsellors,  both  wise  enough 
for  their  own  profit,  but  careless  of  his  standing  ;    and  therefore 

142 


SIR  JAMES  MELVILLE 


not  fit  to  counsel  him  who  was  his  Majesty's  greatest  favourite. 
At  the  instigation  and  misinformation  of  the  earl  of  Arran  and  his- 
lady,  he  first  did  cast  off  his  true  friend  the  master  of  Mar  captain 
of  the  castle  of  Edinburgh,  and  after  that  Sir  William  Stuart 
captain  of  Dunbarton,  and  then  Alexander  Clerk  provost  of 
Edinburgh,  and  the  earl  of  Gowrie  treasurer.  The  rest  of  the 
nobility  were  also  dissatisfied  to  see  these  tvvo  young  lords  only 
in  favour  with  the  King,  finding  that  they  both  did  aim  at  noble- 
mens  lives,  for  their  lands.  And  albeit  some  of  them  misliked 
the  earl  of  Morton's  proceedings,  yet  they  judged  the  taking  of 
his  life  an  hard  preparative.  They  likewise  suspected  religion  to 
be  in  hazard,  the  one  thing  a  papist,  and  the  other  a  scorner  of  all 
religion.  They  thought  that  from  two  such  counsellors,  no 
wholesome  advice  could  proceed  for  the  peace  of  the  country, 
and  the  establishment  of  religion.  Therefore  a  number  of  them, 
consulted  together,  to  displace  both  the  duke  and  the  ear!  of 
Arran,  to  send  the  one  to  France,  and  to  remove  the  other  from 
court.  In  the  mean  time  they  resolved  to  throng  themselves  in 
about  the  King,  and  to  make  a  reformation  of  the  abuses,  and  to 
environ  his  Majesty  with  their  forces,  so  soon  as  he  came  to 
Dunferling,  whither  he  had  appointed  to  come  at  his  return  out 
of  Athole,  where  he  was  for  the  time  a-hunting,  and  to  present  to 
him  this  supplication. 


IT  may  appear  strange  to  your  Majesty,  that  we,  your  most 
"  humble  and  faithful  subjects,  are  here  convened   beyond 
"  your    expectation,    and    without   your   knowledge  ;     but 
'  after  your  Majesty  hath  heard  the  urgent  occasion    that    hath 

■  pressed  us  hereto,  your  Majesty  will  not  marvel  at  this  our 

■  honest,  lawful  and  necessary  enterprize. 

"  Sir,  for  the  dutiful  reverence  that  we  owe  unto  your  Majesty, 
'  and  for  that  we  abhor  to  attempt  any  thing  that  may  seem  dis- 
pleasing to  your  Majesty,  we  have  for  the  space  of  two  years 
suffered  such  false  accusations,  calumnies,  oppressions  and 
persecutions,  by  means  of  the  duke  of  Lenox,  and  him  who  is 
called  earl  of  Arran,  that  the  like  insolencies  and  enormities 
were  never  heretofore  born  within  Scotland.  Which  wrongs, 
albeit  they  were  most  intolerable,  yet  when  they  only  touched  us 
in  particular,  we  comported  with  them  patiently,  ever  attending 
when  it  should  please  your  Majesty  to  give  a  remedy  thereto. 
"  But  seeing  the  persons  aforesaid  have  plainly  designed  to 
trouble  the  whole  bodj"^  of  the  commonwealth,  as  well  the 
ministers  of  the  blessed  evangel,  as  the  true  professors  thereof, 
but  in  special,  that  number  of  noblemen,  barons,  burgesses  and 
commonality,  who  did  most  worthily  behave  themselves  in  your 
Majesty's  service,  during  your  youth  ;  whom  principally  and 
only  they  molest,  and  against  whom  they  use  most  extremity  and 
rigour  of  laws,  oft-times  most  sinistrously  perverting  the  same 

143 


THE  MEMOIRS  OF 


for  their  destruction,  so  that  one  part  of  these  your  best  subjects 
are  exiled,  another  part  tormented,  and  put  to  questions,  which 
they  are  not  in  law  obliged  to  answer  ;  and  withal  do  execute 
with  partiality  and  injustice  all  your  laws.  And  if  any  escape 
their  barbarous  fury,  they  can  have  no  access  to  your  Majesty, 
but  are  falsly  calumniated,  and  debarred  from  your  presence, 
and  kept  out  of  your  favour. 

"  Papists  and  most  notable  murderers  are  called  home  daily, 
and  restored  to  their  former  honours  and  heritages,  and  oft- 
times  highly  rewarded  with  the  offices  and  possessions  of  your 
most  faithful  servants. 

"  Finally,  your  estate  royal  is  not  governed  by  the  council  of 
your  nobility,  as  your  most  worthy  progenitors  used  to  do,  but 
at  the  pleasure  of  the  foresaid  persons,  who  enterprize  nothin.g 
but  as  they  are  directed  by  the  bishops  of  Glasgow  and  Ross, 
your  denounced  rebels,  having  with  them  adjoined  in  their 
ordinary  councils  the  Pope's  nuncio,  with  the  ambassador  of 
Spain,  and  such  other  of  the  papists  of  France  as  endeavour  to 
subvert  the  true  religion,  and  to  bring  your  Majesty  in  discredit 
with  your  subjects.  They  travel  to  cause  you  negotiate  and 
traffick  with  your  mother,  without  the  advice  of  your  estates, 
persuading  your  Majesty  to  be  reconciled  with  her,  and  to 
associate  her  conjunctly  with  you  in  the  authority  royal,  meaning 
nothing  other  thereby  but  toconvict  us  of  usurpation  and  treason, 
"  And  so  having  these  your  best  subjects  out  of  the  way,  V'.ho 
with  the  defence  of  your  authority  maintained  the  true  religion, 
as  two  things  united  and  inseparable  ;  what  else  could  have 
followed  but  the  wreck  and  destruction  of  both  ? 
"  For  conclusion,  your  whole  native  country,  for  which.  Sir, 
you  must  give  an  account  to  the  eternal  God,  as  we  must  be 
answerable  to  your  Majesty,  is  so  perturbed  and  altered,  and 
the  true  religion,  the  commonwealth,  your  estate  and  person  are 
in  no  less  danger  than  when  you  were  delivered  out  of  the  hands 
of  the  cruel  murderers  of  your  father  :  Who  they  were  we  will 
not  insist  on  at  this  present. 

"  Sir,  beholding  these  great  dangers  to  be  imminent  and  at 
hand,  without  speedy  help,  and  perceiving  your  noble  person 
in  such  hazard,  the  preservation  whereof  is  more  precious  to  us 
than  our  own  lives  ;  finding  also  no  appearance  that  your 
Majesty  was  forewarned  hereof,  but  like  to  perish  before  you 
could  see  the  peril  :  we  thought  that  we  could  not  be  answerable 
to  our  eternal  God,  neither  faithful  subjects  to  your  Majesty,  if, 
according  to  our  ability,  we  prevented  not  this  present  distress, 
preserving  your  Majesty  from  the  same. 

"  For  this  effect,  with  all  dutiful  humility  and  obedience,  we 
your  Majesty's  true  subjects  are  here  convened,  desiring  your 
Majesty  in  the  name  of  God,  and  for  the  love  you  bear  to  his 
true  religion,  to  your  country,  and  commonwealth,  and  as  you 
would  see  the  tranquillity  of  your  own  estate,  to  retire  yourself 

1^4 


SIR  JAMES  MELVILLE 


"  to  some  part  of  the  country,  where  your  Majesty's  person  may 
"  be  more  safely  preserved,  and  your  nobility  secured,  who  are 
"  under  hazard  of  lands,  life  and  heritages.  And  then  your 
"  Majest>'  shall  see  the  disloyalties,  falshoods,  and  treasons  of  the 
"  persons  aforesaid,  evidently  proved  and  declared  to  their  faces, 
"  to  the  glory  of  God,  advancement  of  his  true  religion,  your 
"  ]\Iajesty's  preservation  and  honour,  and  the  deliverance  of  j'our 
"  troubled  commonweal  and  country,  and  to  their  perpetual 
"  ignominy  and  shame." 

At  this  highland -hunting  his  Majesty  was  very  meanly  ac- 
companied. The  duke  of  Lenox  tarried  for  the  time  at  Dalkeith  ; 
the  new  earl  of  Arran  was  at  Kinneil.  Many  of  the  council  were 
appointed  to  hold  justice  ayres  in  divers  shires  of  the  country. 
I  was  ordained  to  hold  the  justice  ayre  of  West-Lothian  at  Edin- 
burgh with  my  lord  Newbotrle,  Mr.  David  Macgil  and  Mr.  John 
Sharp.  There  came  to  my  bed  timely  in  the  morning  a  gentleman, 
alledging  that  I  had  formerly  done  him  courtesies,  which  to 
now  he  was  never  able  to  recompence,  that  he  would  make  me 
the  instrument  of  saving  the  King's  Majesty  my  master  out 
of  the  hands  of  those  who  were  upon  an  enterprize  to  take  and 
keep  him.  I  said,  I  could  hardly  trust  that  ;  but  I  feared  that  the 
duke  of  Lennox  might  be  in  hazard,  who  was  gone  to  Glasgow  to 
hold  justice  ayres,  because  of  the  hatred  which  I  knew  was  born 
him,  especially  for  the  maintaining  the  two  bishops  of  St.  Andrew's 
and  Glasgow.  He  answered.  They  will  lay  hands  first  on  the 
King's  Majesty',  and  then  the  duke  and  the  earl  of  Arran  dare  no 
more  be  seen,  their  insolency  and  misbehaviour  being  the  cause 
of  all  the  present  disordci^s  ;  for  there  is  an  enterprize  to  present  a 
supplication  against  them  to  his  Majesty.  After  he  had  told  me 
this  news,  he  desired  me  to  conceal  his  name,  though  to  tell  the 
matter  to  his  Majesty.  He  said.  This  turn  would  be  done  in  ten 
days  :  And  as  I  started  up  to  put  on  my  clothes,  he  slipt  to  the 
door  with  a  short  farewel. 

Because  the  duke  was  at  Dalkeith,  I  did  ride  thither,  and  shewed 
him  the  whole  matter,  advising  him  to  ride  himself  to  his  Majesty 
with  this  advertisement,  foi  his  own  security  ;  but  he  chose  rather 
to  direct  a  gentleman  with  all  possible  diligence  to  his  Majesty 
willing  me  also  to  write  unto  the  earl  of  Gowrie;  for  the  gentleman 
had  not  named  him  to  me  with  the  rest  of  the  enterprii:ers  ;  either 
out  of  forgetfulness,  or  else  because  he  was  but  lately  won  to  that 
purpose  by  the  laird  of  Drumwhasel,  who  had  assured  him  that  the 
duke  of  Lenox  had  determined  to  slay  him  at  the  first  meeting  ; 
persuading  the  earl,  upon  this  ground,  to  join  with  the  rest  of  the 
noblemen,  who  were  determined  to  reform  the  estate.  Unto  the 
which  invented  advertisement  he  too  easily  gave  credit,  and  so 
joined  with  the  rest  of  the  nobility  who  were  minded  to  present 
the  forenamed  supplication  to  the  King  at  his  coming  to 
Dunfermling. 

145 


THE  MEMOIRS  OF 


It  is  certain  that  the  duke  of  Lenox  was  led  by  evil  counsel  and 
wrong  informations,  whereby  he  was  moved  to  meddle  in  such 
hurtful  and  dangerous  courses,  that  the  rest  of  the  nobility  became 
jealous  of  his  intentions,  and  feared  their  estates.  As  for  the  earl 
of  Arran,  they  detested  his  proceedings,  and  esteemed  him  the 
worst  and  most  insolent  instrument  that  could  be  found  out,  to 
wreck  King,  kirk  and  country.  The  duke  had  been  tolerable, 
had  he  happened  upon  as  honest  counsellors  as  he  was  well 
inclined  of  himself  :  but  he  wanted  experience,  and  was  no  w^ays 
versed  in  the  state  of  the  country,  nor  brought  up  in  our  religion, 
which,  by  time,  he  might  have  been  brought  to  have  embraced. 
But  the  earl  of  Arran  was  a  scomer  of  religion,  presumptuous, 
ambitious,  covetous,  careless  of  the  commonwealth,  a  despiser 
of  the  nobility,  and  of  all  honest  men  ;  so  that  every  man  was 
expecting  a  sudden  change  :  which  should  have  been  made  in 
Dunfermling,  in  presenting  the  above  specified  supplication. 
But  what  moved  the  lords  to  surprize  his  Majesty  within  the  house 
of  Huntington,  I  know  not  ;  if  it  was  not  to  embark  the  earl  of 
Gowrie,  whose  house  it  was,  more  deeply  in  their  bond  ;  or  that 
they,  fearing  their  enterprize  to  be  discovered,  made  the  greater 
haste,  and  stayed  his  Majesty  in  that  place,  which  was  afterward 
called  the  Road  of  Ruthven. 

After  that  the  duke  of  Lenox  was  advertised  of  this  enterprize, 
he  sent  for  tlie  earl  of  Arran,  who  was  peaceably  passing  his  time 
in  Kinneil.  He  took  in  hand  to  ride  out  and  save  the  King, 
boasting  that  he  would  chace  all  the  lords  into  mouse-holes  :  but 
he  was  chased,  and  saved  himself  in  the  house  of  Ruthven,  where 
they  had  shortly  made  an  end  of  him,  had  not  the  earl  of  Gowrie 
interceeded  for  his  life,  whose  destiny  it  was  to  keep  him  alive  to 
be  his  own  wreck  afterwards.  The  duke  of  Lenox  being 
advertisde  that  his  Majesty  was  in  their  hands,  retired  himself  to 
Dumbarton  ;  and  his  Majesty  was  conveyed  to  Stirling,  and  there 
retained. 

The  King  of  France  and  the  Queen  of  England  being  informed 
that  the  King  was  taken  and  kept  in  custody,  sent  each  of  them  an 
ambassador  to  this  country  to  comfort  his  Majesty,  to  see  what  the 
matter  meant,  and  to  offer  him  their  best  assistance,  in  case  he 
required  the  same,  and  declared  that  he  had  been  taken  and  kept 
against  his  will.  But  after  great  thanks  given  unto  the  said 
ambassadors,  the  King  willed  them  to  declare  unto  their  princes, 
that  he  was  very  well  satisfied  with  the  lords  who  were  about  him, 
and  that  they  were  all  his  own  subjects,  willing  to  obey  him  ; 
but  that  they  had  conceived  some  hard  apprehensions  of  the  duke 
of  Lenox,  and  some  others  who  had  been  about  him  before  : 
albeit  his  heart  was  full  of  sorrow  and  displeasure,  as  he  told  him- 
self afterward,  and  even  then  likewise  to  Mr.  Gary  cousin  to  the 
Queen  of  England,  who  whispered  in  his  Majesty's  ear,  requesting 
him  to  tell  the  plain  verity,  which  he  should  keep  secret  from  Mr. 
Bowes  his  companion,  and  also  from  the  lords,  and  should  only 

146 


SIR  JAMES  MELVILLE 


shew  his  inward  mind  privily  to  his  mistress  the  Queen.  Yet 
it  neither  appeared  by  the  success  to  have  been  kept  secret,  nor 
did  that  Queen  niake  any  fuither  instance  for  his  hberty. 

The  lords  in  the  mean  time  thought  meet  to  hold  a  council,  to 
resolve  what  course  to  take,  wherein  it  was  determined  that  their 
enterprize  was  good  ser\-ice  to  his  Majesty,  the  kirk,  and  common- 
wealth ;  which  his  Alajesty  granted  also  to  be  true  :  whereupon 
an  act  of  council  was  formed.  At  that  same  time  the  general 
assembly  of  the  kirk  was  held  at  Edinburgh,  to  the  which  his 
AIajest>-  was  moved  to  send  two  commissioners,  to  testify  that  he 
had  allowed  for  good  service  the  said  lords  enterprize,  desiring 
likewise  the  kirk  to  find  it  good  for  their  parts,  and  to  ordain  the 
ministers,  and  commissioners  of  every  shire  to  publish  the  same 
to  their  parishioners,  and  to  get  the  principal  gentlemens  sub- 
scriptions to  maintain  the  same.  Notwithstanding  all  this,  his 
Majesty  took  the  matter  further  to  heart  than  any  man  would  have 
believed.  Ke  lamented  his  mishandling  to  sundry  noblemen 
and  others  ;  and  at  length  acquainted  some  of  them,  that  he 
intended  to  relieve  himself  through  time  out  of  their  hands  who 
held  him  as  captive.  He  desired  such  as  he  trusted  in,  to  assist 
him  with  their  counsel  and  help. 

The  lords  again  who  were  joined  together  for  the  reformation 
of  the  state,  being  rid  of  the  duke  of  Lenox  who  had  past  through 
England  to  France,  where  he  shortly  after  died  of  a  sickness 
contracted  through  displeasure  ;  and  being  also  rid  of  the  earl  of 
Arran,  whom  they  kept  captive  in  the  custody  of  the  earl  of  Gowrie  : 
they  retired  themselves  from  the  court  to  their  houses,  that  his 
Majestj'  should  not  think  himself  any  way  deprived  of  his  liberty 
by  them  ;  for  they  had  got  some  intelligence  of  his  inward  grief, 
for  his  taking  and  retaining.  Whereupon  his  Majesty  takes 
occasion  to  appoint  a  convention  to  be  holden  in  St.  Andrew's, 
for  some  English  affairs,  after  the  returning  of  Mr.  John  Colvil 
and  colonel  Stuart,  who  both  had  been  sent  thither,  and  had  not 
agreed  well  concerning  their  commission,  having  brought  back 
again  different  answers.  To  the  which  convention  his  Majesty, 
by  missives,  invited  some  of  the  nobility  ;  but  he  called  none  of  the 
lords  thereto  who  had  lately  left  him,  supposing  that,  perceiving 
themselves  so  far  slighted,  they  would  not  come  unwritten  for  ; 
and  that  way  he  thought  he  might  slip  himself  out  of  their  hands, 
and  retain  about  him  such  lords  as  he  had  written  for,  to  wit,  the 
earls  of  Argile,  Huntly,  Montrose,  Crawford,  Rothes,  and  the  earl 
of  March,  who  was  an  indweller  in  St.  Andrew's  for  the  time, 
and  the  earl  of  Gowrie  of  whom  he  judged  himself  assured, 
though  for  some  respects  he  would  not  employ  him  till  afterwards, 
lest  the  rest  of  his  associates  should  alledge  that  he  had  left  them 
unhandsomely.  For  the  said  earl  had  repented  him  that  he  had 
suffered  himself  to  be  drawn  in  by  Drumwhasel  to  join  with  the 
rest,  after  that  he  had  received  sure  information  that  the  duke  of 
Lenox  had  not  laid  for  his  slaughter,  as  was  alledged.     Therefore 

147 


THE  MEMOIRS  OF 


he  repented  his  folly,  and  offered  at  all  occasions  to  help  to  set 
him  at  liberty. 

So  his  Majesty  thinking  himself  assured  of  all  these  noblemen, 
the  day  appointed  for  the  convention  drawing  near,  it  pleased 
him  to  send  colonel  Stuart  to  my  house,  shewing  me  that  his 
Majesty  having  somewhat  to  do  of  great  concernment,  he  had 
directed  him  unto  me  as  to  one  of  his  most  faithful  servants,  of 
whose  fidelity  and  foresight  he  had  formerly  had  sufficient  proof, 
by  the  true  warning  I  had  m.ade  him  before  the  alteration.  As 
a  sworn  gentleman  of  his  chamber,  he  desired  that  I  would  help 
him  to  his  liberty,  which  he  was  determined  to  attain  at  his  being 
at  St.  Andrew's,  whither  he  was  resolved  to  go  shortly  to  a  con- 
vention, to  which  he  desired  my  assistance  and  advice,  his  Majesty 
being  minded,  as  he  said,  to  follow  my  counsel  so  long  as  he  lived, 
w^illing  me  not  to  refuse  any  service  that  his  Majesty  would  demand 
of  me  at  meeting.  This  commission  was  to  me  very  unpleasant, 
for  I  had  taken  my  leave  of  the  court,  as  being  wearied  with  the 
many  alterations  I  had  seen,  both  at  home  and  in  foreign  courts, 
having  got  great  trouble  and  damage  to  myself  for  other  mens 
causes.  Therefore  I  had  determined  to  be  no  more  concerned  in 
publick  affairs,  but  to  lead  a  quiet  contemplative  life  the  rest  of 
my  days.  This  desire  of  my  prince  and  master  was  like  to  put 
me  from  this  resolution.  In  this  perplexity  I  had  recourse  by 
humble  prayer  to  God,  so  to  direct  my  actings  as  they  might  tend 
to  his  glory  and  to  the  weal  of  my  prince  and  country.  And 
thereafter,  according  to  my  dutiful  obedience,  I  went  unto  his 
Majesty.  When  I  came  to  him  at  Falkland,  he  told  me  of  his 
resolution,  lamenting  his  hard  state  and  mishandling  by  his  own 
subjects,  and  what  displeasure  he  had  taken,  and  that  he  was 
thought  but  a  beast  by  all  neighbouring  princes,  for  suffering  so 
many  indignities. 

I  again  discoursed  unto  his  Majesty  about  the  common  estate 
of  all  countries  during  their  prince's  minority',  the  nobility  striving 
for  state  and  for  the  chief  handling,  whereby  to  advance  them- 
selves and  their  friends.  As  did  the  house  of  Guise  during  the 
young  age  of  King  Francis  II.  The  prince  of  Conde  during  the 
reignof  King  Charles  II. of  France;  and  also  the  King  of  Navarre: 
likewise  the  dukes  of  Somerset  and  Northumberland  during  the 
youth  of  King  Edward  VI.  of  England.  And  as  well  in  the  Queen 
his  mother's  time,  as  in  his  own  time,  some  aiming  to  advance  their 
own  affairs,  some  to  defend  and  maintain  their  own  estate,  engaged 
in  divers  enterprizes  and  strifes,  none  of  the  parties  bearing  any 
evil  will  to  his  Majesty,  but  every  one  being  in  love  with  him,  and 
desiring  to  be  nearest  to  his  person.  And  albeit  some  of  them  be 
oft-times  transported,  either  by  ambition,  greediness  or  vengeance, 
to  out-shoot  themselves  and  forget  their  duty  ;  yet  princes  who 
are  wise  and  come  to  perfect  age,  have  ever  found  it  their  interest 
to  pardon  and  oversee  all  such  faults  as  have  been  committed  at 
such  times    by  too  great    a   number   of  subjects.     Now   when 

148 


SIR  JAMES  MELVILLE 


Charles  IX.  agreed  with  the  prince  of  Cond6,  all  his  former 
offences  were  reckoned  for  good  service  :  and  as  your  Majesty- 
hath  done  in  agreeing  with  so  many  of  your  nobility  as  were  in 
fear  that  the  duke  of  Lenox  and  earl  of  Arran  would  wrong  both 
them  and  the  country,  as  they  did  alledge. 

Now,  Sir,  if  your  Majesty  shall  slip  from  them,  they  will  think 
their  estate  in  greater  danger  than  ever  ;  not  from  yourself,  but 
from  some  of  their  unfriends  who  may  fall  in  again  about  you. 
And  albeit  they  be  presently  absent,  they  have  both  a  guard  and 
some  of  their  friends  presently  about  your  Majesty,  and  so  they 
will  not  fail  to  keep  the  convention,  and  be  as  soon  at  St.  Andrew's 
as  the  other  lords,  whom  your  Majesty,'  hath  invited  by  letters. 
For  it  stands  them  upon  their  lives  and  fortunes  to  be  still  chief 
about  your  Alajesty.  Therefore  saving  your  Majestj''s  own  pleasure 
I  judge  you  presently  in  a  far  better  and  safer  condition,  than  you 
will  be  by  abandoning  them,  in  case  you  get  it  not  well  effected  ; 
wherein  there  will  be  found  greater  difficulty  than  your  Majesty 
hath  yet  deeply  considered,  as  the  importance  of  the  case  requires. 

All  these  dissuasions  had  no  force  to  stay  his  Majesty  from  his 
former  deliberation,  as  having  taken  up  a  great  displeasure,  and  a 
princely  courage  either  to  liberate  himself  fully,  or  die  in  the 
attempt.  But,  for  to  follow  the  example  of  other  wise  princes, 
as  he  had  begun  himself,  to  allow  for  good  service  the  enterprize 
called  the  Road  of  Ruthven  ;  so  he  resolved  that  being  at  liberty, 
he  would  make  a  general  act  of  oblivion  for  all  bygone  faults  and 
errors  committed  by  his  nobility  and  subjects  during  his  minority, 
and  from  that  t-me  forth  to  be  as  a  father  to  the  country,  and  a  just 
and  equal  prince  to  all  his  subjects  ;  that  no  man's  life,  no  man's 
land,  goods,  nor  office  should  be  taken  from  them.  That  as  the 
fittest  and  most  effectual  way  for  settling  peace  in  the  country 
he  would  give  satisfaction  to  the  church  and  their  desires.  That 
he  would  keep  about  his  person  the  most  virtuous  and  discreet  of 
his  nobility  and  gentry  who  could  be  found.  His  Majesty  engaged 
also  to  me,  to  be  secret,  constant,  and  counsellable. 

For  the  better  management  then  of  his  Majesty's  design,  it  was 
thought  expedient,  that  he  should  be  in  St.  Andrew's  some  few 
days  before  the  convention,  that  being  once  there,  proclamation 
might  be  issued  out,  to  forbid  any  nobleman  or  other  to  come  to 
the  convention,  without  being  expresly  called  by  letter  from  his 
Majesty.  For  this  end  it  was  advised.  That  the  earl  of  March 
should  invite  his  Majesty  to  be  at  St.  Andrew's  two  or  three  days 
before  the  convention,  by  reason  of  his  preparation  of  wild  meat 
and  other  fleshes,  that  v/ould  spoil  in  case  his  Majesty  came  not 
to  make  good  chear  with  him  some  days  before.  Whereupon 
his  Majesty  went  forward,  contrary  to  my  opinion  and  the  judg- 
ment of  some  others  about  him,  who  though  we  were  sensible 
of  the  inconveniencies  which  might  follow,  durst  not  be  so  bold 
as  to  stay  him,  though  we  told  his  Majesty  our  opinion,  that  we 
judged  it  was  hazardous  for  him  to  ride,  till  the  lords,  who  had 

149 


THE  MEMOIRS  OF 


been  advertised  to  attend  him,  might  come  forward.  Neverthe- 
less he  went  on,  and  advertised  the  earl  of  March,  the  provost  of 
St.  Andrew's,  and  other  barons  to  attend  him  at  Dairsy.  Where 
meeting  them,  his  Majesty  thought  himself  at  liberty,  expressing 
great  joy,  like  a  bird  flown  out  of  a  cage,  passing  his  time  in  hawking 
by  the  way  after  his  meeting  them,  thinking  himself  sure  enough, 
albeit  I  thought  his  estate  far  surer  when  he  was  in  Falkland. 
For  when  he  came  to  St.  Andrew's  he  lodged  in  an  old  inn,  a  very 
open  part,  the  yard  dikes  being  his  greatest  strength  ;  few  of  the 
lords  he  had  written  for  being  yet  come,  except  only  the  earl  of 
Crawford,  who  was  near. 

In  the  mean  time  I  perceived  the  folly,  and  went  to  the  provost 
of  the  town,  desiring  to  know  what  forces  he  had  within  the  town 
at  his  devotion  1  He  answered,  very  few,  and  those  not  to  be 
trusted  to.  I  asked  who  was  in  the  castle  .''  He  told  me,  the 
bishop  ;  with  whom  I  dealt  incontinently,  to  have  the  castle  in 
readiness  to  receive  his  Majesty  ;  which  he  promised  to  do.  But 
when  I  returned  to  his  Majesty,  believing  that  the  proclamation 
had  been  made.  That  no  man  should  come  to  the  convention  but 
such  as  had  been  written  for,  I  found  that  the  abbot  of  Dun- 
fermling  was  arrived  out  of  Lochlevin,  and  the  earl  Marischal  out 
of  Dundee.  The  earl  of  Mar  was  still  with  his  Majesty  ;  but  all 
the  lords  Vv'ere  advertised  with  diligence  from  Falkland,  that  his 
Majesty  was  suddenly  gone  for  St.  Andrew's,  desiring  them  to 
make  haste  to  go  thither,  else  they  would  be  late.  The  said  abbot 
for  his  part  was  soon  enough  there,  and  behaved  himself  with 
great  dissimulation,  extolling  his  Majesty's  enterprize,  so  that  he 
gained  so  much  credit  as  to  cast  down  all  their  devices  who  were 
upon  the  King's  side,  though  he  was  a  special  doer  for  the  contrary 
party.  He  said,  it  was  not  fit  by  proclamation  to  stay  the  nobility, 
but  rather  to  write  missives  to  them,  not  to  come  accompanied 
with  any  more  than  two  persons  with  every  nobleman. 

When  his  Majesty  told  me  this,  I  was  very  angry,  and  shewed 
him  that  this  was  the  ready  way  to  put  him  again  in  their  hands, 
without  thanks  from  whom  he  had  lately  fled,  assuring  his  Majesty 
that  they  were  coming  forward  very  strong  and  in  arms,  and  would 
be  sooner  there  than  those  lords  he  had  written  for,  adding,  that 
they  might  come  in  quietly  themselves,  and  cause  their  companies 
to  come  in  by  two's  and  three's  to  the  town,  whereas  it  had  been 
better  to  let  them  come  in  all  together,  that  their  whole  forces 
might  have  been  seen.  Yet  his  Majesty  was  loth  to  enter  within 
the  castle  that  night  for  his  greater  security,  until  it  was  very  late 
after  supper,  giving  those  that  were  there  already  time  to  advise, 
and  to  enterprize  that  same  night  to  take  him  again,  in  case  he  had 
gone  to  the  abbay  yards  to  walk,  as  they  had  persuaded  him,  till 
the  castle  was  prepared.  And  some  were  already  entred  the  said 
yard  for  that  effect  in  armour,  whereof  I  had  some  suspicion,  and 
therefore  instantly  advertised  his  Majesty,  who  thereupon  changed 
his  resolution,  and  past  by  the  yard-gate  to  the  castle. 

•ISO 


SIR  JAMES  MELVILLE 


The  next  day  the  whole  lords,  as  well  written  for  as  unwritten 
for,  arrived  at  St.  Andrew's  ;  the  King's  lords  quite  without 
armour,  the  other  lords  strongly  armed.  The  earl  Marischal 
and  Mar,  and  the  abbot  of  Dunfermling  lodged  within  the  castle 
with  his  Majesty,  where  the  crafty  abbot  counselled  the  King  to 
let  none  of  the  lords  come  within  the  castle  accompanied  with 
more  than  twelve  persons.  He  ever  appeared  to  favour  the  King's 
intention,  and  therefore  this  crafty  councel  was  followed.  The 
next  morning  the  castle  was  full  of  men  ;  and  those  of  the  contrary 
party,  being  well  armed,  had  already  taken  the  stair-heads  and 
galleries,  resolving  again  to  be  masters  of  the  King  and  all  the 
rest  :  which  being  too  late  perceived,  diligence  was  incontinently 
used  to  bring  within  the  castle  all  the  earl  of  March's  gentlemen, 
with  the  lairds  of  Dairsy,  Balcomy,  Segie,  Forret,  Barns,  and 
others,  with  so  many  of  the  town  as  were  at  the  provost's  devotion  ; 
which  for  that  night  prevented  the  foresaid  design. 

The  earl  of  Gowrie  was  also  a  great  stay  in  that  matter  ;  for 
albeit  he  came  thither  as  strong,  and  as  angry  as  any  of  the  lords  ; 
yet  he  was  advertised  of  the  King's  good  will  towards  him,  and  so 
was  drawn  from  the  rest.  That  dangerous  day  being  thus  past 
without  any  harm  done,  the  next  day  such  order  was  taken,  as 
his  Alajesty  was  master  of  the  castle,  following  no  more  the  said 
abbot's  counsel,  but  declared  his  moderate  intentions  to  all  the 
lords,  to  the  Fife  barons,  and  towns  upon  the  coast  side,  who  had 
been  sent  for,  and  likewise  to  the  ministers  and  masters  of  the 
college  ;  namely,  "  That  albeit  he  had  been  detained  against  his 
will  for  some  time  ;  yet  he  intended  not  to  impute  it  as  a  crime, 
nor  to  remember  any  thing  done  in  his  minority,  but  that  he  would 
pass  an  act  of  oblivion  as  to  all  that  was  past  ;  satisfy  the  demands 
of  the  church  ;  agree  parties  among  whom  there  were  differences  ; 
and  to  carry  himself  to  all  his  subjects  equally,  knowing  none  of 
them  to  bear  him  any  evil  will,  and  that  they  had  been  driven  to 
enterprize  the  thing  they  had  done,  by  the  force  of  their  factious 
partialities  :  using  many  other  such  words  of  clemency  and 
discretion,  to  all  their  contentments.  Thereafter  he  ordained 
four  lords,  two  of  every  faction,  to  retire  them  for  a  while,  to  wit, 
the  earls  of  Angus,  Bothwell,  Huntly,  and  Crawford  ;  retaining 
all  the  rest  about  him  as  indifferent  for  his  ordinary  council,  by 
whose  advice  he  was  resolved  to  settle  his  estate,  and  thereafter 
to  bring  again  to  court  the  whole  lords  above  named.  Then  his 
Majesty  called  for  me  before  a  number  of  the  said  lords,  and  gave 
me  greater  commendation  and  thanks  than  I  had  merited,  as  being 
the  only  instrument,  under  God,  of  his  liberty.  His  Majesty 
caused  also  to  make  a  proclamation,  conform  to  his  former  pro- 
mises and  moderate  intention  :  but  I  took  no  pleasure  to  be 
praised  in  presence  of  so  many,  answering  to  his  Majesty,  '  That 
'  I  had  already  displeased  all  those  who  were  upon  the  purpose  of 
*  his  detention.' 

Now   matters   being   settled   in   appearance,   and   this   design 

151 


THE  MEMOIRS  OF 


successfully  ended,  some  of  the  King's  lords  who  had  been  slow 
in  coming  (and  when  they  were  come,  finding  the  lords  of  the 
contrary  faction  strong  and  in  armour)  denyed  that  they  knew 
any  thing  of  his  Majesty's  enterprize,  laying  the  whole  burden 
upon  colonel  Stuart  and  me.  But  when  they  saw  appearance  of  a 
prosperous  success,  they  took  the  matter  stoutly  upon  them,  and 
began  in  plain  council  to  tell  how  long  they  had  been  upon  the 
council  of  that  enterprize  with  his  Majesty,  and  how  long  waiting 
for  his  advertisement. 

Of  a  truth  his  Majesty  was  of  a  merciful  mind,  and  gently 
inclined  toward  all  the  nobility,  intending  to  win  all  their  hearts 
by  his  own  discreet  behaviour,  and  to  that  effect  he  went  first  to 
the  house  of  Ruthven,  to  let  the  country  see  that  he  was  entirely 
reconcil'd  to  the  earl  of  Gowrie.  Where  after  he  had  royally 
entertain'd  his  Majestj^  he  fell  down  upon  his  knees,  lamenting 
that  his  Majesty  should  have  been  retained  in  that  unhappy 
house  at  his  last  being  there,  which  he  said,  fell  out  rather  by 
accident  than  deliberation,  only  for  the  safety  of  the  earl  of  Arran's 
life  :  alledging  that  he  knew  no  other  thing,  than  that  at  his 
Majesty's  being  at  Dunfermling,  they  were  minded  to  present  him 
an  humble  supplication,  asking  pardon  for  that  accidental  fault  : 
which  his  Majesty  graciously  promised  never  to  impute  to  him, 
knowing  how  blindly  he  was  brought  upon  it  by  the  practices  of 
others. 

In  the  mean  time  James  Stuart,  earl  of  Arran,  had  obtained 
the  favour  to  be  warded  in  Kinneil,  his  own  house,  and  sent  and 
congratulated  his  Majesty's  liberty,  begging  that  he  might  have 
access  to  come  and  kiss  his  hand  ;  which  was  plainly  refused. 
Then  he  sent  daily  his  opinion  and  advices  to  his  Majesty,  how  to 
proceed  against  divers  of  the  nobility,  and  others  ;  advising  to 
bring  back  to  court  the  earls  of  Huntly  and  Crawford  :  which 
was  too  easily  condescended  to  by  the  earls  of  Argile  and  Mont- 
rose, only  the  earl  of  Gowrie  resisted,  alledging,  That  the  earls  of 
Bothwell  and  Angus  were  put  in  hopes  to  be  brought  in  with 
them,  or  as  soon  as  they.  But  t'ne  equality  expected  was  soon 
forgot  :  which  moved  the  earl  Marischal  and  others  to  retire  to 
their  houses.  The  abbot  of  Dunfermling  remained  still  at  court 
and  to  curry  favour  of  colonel  Stuart  then  captain  of  the  guard, 
he  gave  him  a  purse  of  thirty  pieces  of  gold  at  four  pound  the 
piece  ;  which  pieces  the  colonel  distributed  to  so  many  of  the 
guard,  who  bored  them  and  set  them  like  targets  upon  their  knap- 
sacks, and  the  purse  was  born  upon  a  spear-point  like  an  ensign. 
The  abbot  shortly  after  was  warded  in  Lochlevan.  Mr.  John 
Colvil,  the  laird  of  Cleish,  and  Drumwhasel  were  also  warded 
by  the  advice  of  the  earl  of  Arran  and  his  wife,  who  continually 
solicited  his  Majesty  that  they  might  come  to  court.  And  at 
length  I  was  requested  by  his  agent  James  Stuart,  to  deal  with 
his  Majesty  to  permit  the  said  earl  to  come  again  to  the  court : 
for  he  said,  that  his  Majesty  was  favourable  enough,  and  that  the 

152 


SIR  JAMES  MELVILLE 


earls  of  Argile,  Huntly,  Crawford,  and  Montrose  had  not  only 
given  their  consent,  but  that  the  earls  of  Argile  and  Alontrose  had 
said  unto  his  Majesty,  that  they  would  ride  themselves  and  fetch 
him  ;  only  the  earl  of  Gowrie  resisted  ;  and  that  the  King  had 
shewn  him  that  he  would  do  nothing  therein  without  my  consent 
and  advice.  I  answered.  That  his  Majesty  needed  not  my  con- 
sent, if  himself  and  so  many  noblemen  were  content.  He  replied 
again,  That  his  Majesty  reposed  more  upon  me  at  that  time,  than 
upon  ail  his  council,  as  his  Alajesty  had  shewn  him  ;  and  that  he 
would  not  bring  him  without  my  consent.  Whereupon  I  went 
unto  his  Majesty,  and  shewed  him  what  language  the  earl  of 
Arran's  servant  had  to  me,  concerning  his  master's  coming  to 
court,  and  that  his  Majesty*  laid  too  great  a  burden  upon  me,  to 
say  that  he  would  do  nothing  therein  without  my  consent.  There- 
upon his  Majesty  took  me  to  the  gallery  of  Falkland,  lamenting, 
as  he  had  been  informed,  the  loss  of  many  of  his  best  friends,  as 
the  earls  of  Lenox,  Athole,  and  duke  of  Lenox  :  and  now,  says  he, 
they  will  not  permit  the  earl  of  Asran,  who  hazarded  his  life  to 
relieve  me,  to  come  and  see  me.  He  desired  me  to  acquaint  him 
what  might  be  the  occasion  they  hated  him  so  much.  My  answer 
was,  that  to  tell  the  verity  perilled  my  self,  to  conceal  the  truth 
endangered  his  Majesty,  He  would  needs  know  my  meaning 
therein.  I  said,  the  earl  of  Arran  is  one  of  the  worst  instruments 
can  come  about  you,  whereof  your  Majesty  hath  had  too  sure  a 
proof,  his  misbehaviour  being  the  only  occasion  of  the  late  enter- 
prize  ;  and  if  he  ever  be  again  admitted  about  your  Majesty,  the 
like  or  worse  will  follow.  Thereupon  'tis  dangerous  to  myself  to 
acquaint  your  Alajesty  herewith,  seeing  it  will  occasion  him  to  be 
my  deadly  enemy,  if  he  ever  get  notice  thereof.  Then  his  Majesty 
desired  only  to  let  him  come  and  kiss  his  hand,  promising  he 
should  not  tarry  ;  entreating  me  to  deal  with  my  Lord  of  Gowrie, 
that  he  would  also  grant  that  he  might  but  once  come  to  court, 
and  he  should  incontinently  return  to  his  house  without  any  stay. 
I  said,  I  should  cause  him  to  yield  to  his  Majesty's  pleasure. 

In  the  mean  time  I  took  occasion  to  declare  unto  his  Majesty, 
how  that  many  great  princes  are  wrecked  by  their  ambitious 
counsellors,  who  will  rule  all  alone,  taking  vipon  them  a  greater 
burden  than  they  can  bear  :  for  remedy  whereof,  his  Majesty 
should  spend  every  day  but  one  hour,  to  hear  a  chosen  number  of 
honest  counsellors  reason  upon  his  affairs  ;  then  himself  to  give 
his  opinion  what  he  thinks  fittest  to  be  done,  as  the  King  of 
France  used  to  do.  Which  his  Majesty  granted  very  willingly, 
and  so  long  as  he  kept  that  order  by  the  ordinary  council-days,  his 
turns  went  rightly  forward.  The  whole  lords  who  assisted  his 
Majesty  were  of  his  council,  Sir  Robert  my  brother,  colonel 
Stuart,  the  laird  of  Seigie,  and  myself. 

But  as  soon  as  the  earl  of  Arran  got  access  to  his  Majesty,  he 
not  only  staid  at  court  against  promise,  but  also  within  a  short 
time  altered  all  this  way  of  procedure,  with  a  design  to  draw  the 

153 


THE  MEMOIRS  OF 


management  of  all  publick  affairs  to  himself.     At  his  first  entry 
he  carried  himself  very   humbly  ;    for  after  he  had  kissed   his 
Majesty's  hand,  he  embraced  me  and  kissed  my  cheek,  giving  me 
many  thanks  in  his  Majesty's  presence,  alledging.  That  the  whole 
name  of  Stuarts  was  obliged  to  me,  for  the  notable  service,  he 
alledged,  I  had  done  his  Majesty  :   as  for  him,  he  said,  he  should 
never  take  any  thing  in  hand,  but  be  therein  directed   by  my 
brother  and  me.     But  colonel  Stuart  and  he  spoke  not  together, 
until  his  Majesty  desired  me  to  agree  them,  which  after  much 
travel  I  did  at  length.     At  first  the  colonel  swore  a  great  oath, 
*  That  if  his  Majesty  suffered  that  villain  to  remain  at  court,  he 
would  yet  again  undo  all.'     For  a  little  time  he  kept  himself 
quiet  ;   but  there  was  no  appearance  of  his  home  going.     Some- 
times  he  would   reprove   my   gentle   kind   of  procedure    in   his 
Majesty's  affairs,  and  could  not  endure  to  see  them  handled  by  a 
number.     He  insinuated  to  his  Majesty,  That  he  would  find  it  a 
troublesome    business    to    be    incumbered    with    many    contrary 
opinions.     He  desired  him  to  recreate  himself  at  hunting,  and  he 
would  attend  the  council,  and  report  again  at  his  Majesty's  return, 
all  our  opinions  and  conclusions.     This  he  observed  two  or  three 
times,  and  so  in  a  very  short  space  changed  the  former  order  laid 
down  to  have  been  followed  :  so  that  he  gave  account  of  no  man's 
advice  but  his  own  ;   yet  he  made  his  Majesty  believe  that  it  was 
all  our  opinions,  that  it  was  his  interest  to  follow  a  violent  course. 
And   though   the   same  was   directly  against  his   Majesty's   first 
deliberation,  intention,  and  proclamation  of  clemency  ;    yet  he 
caused  to  make  contrary  proclamations  against  those  of  the  Road 
of  Ruthven,  ordaining  them  all  to  take  remissions  for  that  which 
before  was  allowed  for  good  service,  moving  divers  noblemen  and 
others  to  withdraw  from  the  court,  for  fear,  to  some  place  of 
security.     When  he  caused  to  be  read  before  the  council  his  new 
invented  proclamation,  I  downright  opposed  myself  to  it,  saying, 
That  I  knew  it  was  directly  against  his  Majesty's  mind  and  promise. 
Whereupon  he  leapt  out  of    the    council-house    in    a    rage,  and 
said,    I    would    wreck   the   King   by  my   manner  of  doings.       I 
answered,  either  you  or  I,  my  lord  ;    with  other  sharp  pricking 
language,   so   that   for   that   time   it  was   stayed.     Afterward   he 
waited  a  meet  occasion  to  get  it  past,  having  procured  a  flattering 
faction  to  assist  him,  in  expectation  to  be  made  sharers  of  the  spoil 
he  hoped  to  make,  a  part  whereof  he  had  promised  them,  to  gain 
their  votes  to  his  desire.     And  so  all  things  were  turned  upside 
down,  a  great  number  of  noblemen  and  others  being  put  thereby 
in  fear  of  their  lives  and  estates.     And  when  any  of  us  who  were 
desirous   of  his   Majesty's   quiet   and    prosperous   estate,    would 
acquaint  his  Majesty  with  the  danger  of  these  proceedings  of  the 
earl,  he  would  be  very  sorry,  saying,  The  earl  made  him  believe 
that  he  did  nothing  but  by  common  consent  of  the  council.     And 
when  his  Majesty  understood  the  contrary,  he  was  very  earnest 
and  willing  to  amend  the  disorder,  but  was  still  circumvented 

154 


SIR  JAMES  MELVILLE 


by  the  said  earl,  and  such  as  for  fear,  flattery,  or  expectation  of 
profit,  advanced  all  his  designs. 

About  this  time  there  came  a  sharp  letter  from  the  Queen  of 
England  unto  his  Majesty,  who  thought  the  nohlemen  who  were 
aimed  at,  and  were  absent  from  court,  fittest  instruments  to  be 
about  his  Majesty  ;  and  for  entertaining  of  amity  and  concord 
betwixt  their  Majesties  and  kingdoms,  she  was  not  content  to  see 
them  so  hardly  handled.  The  copy  of  which  letter  I  have  here 
inserted. 

*'  A  Mong  your  many  studies,  my  dear  brother  and  cousin, 
/-A  "  I  wish  Isocrates's  noble  lesson  were  not  forgotten,  that 
jL  jL"  wills  the  Emperor  his  sovereign  to  make  his  words  of 
"  more  account  than  other  men  do  their  oaths,  as  meetest  ensigns 
"  to  shew  the  truest  badge  of  a  prince's  arms.  It  moveth  me 
"  much  to  moan  you,  when  I  behold  how  diversely  sundry  wicked 
"  spirits  abstract  your  mind,  and  bend  your  course  to  crooked 
*'  paths  and  evil  illusions,  wrapt  under  the  cloak  of  your  best  good. 
"  How  can  it  be  that  you  can  suppose  an  honourable  and  satis- 
"  factory  answer  can  be  made  unto  me,  when  all  your  actings 
"  gainsay  your  former  vows  .''  You  deal  with  one  whose  ex- 
"  perience  will  not  take  dross  for  good  payment,  and  with  one 
"  who  will  not  be  easily  beguiled.  No,  no  :  I  mind  to  send  to 
"  school  your  craftiest  counsellors.  I  am  sorry  to  find  you  bent 
"  to  wrong  yourself,  in  thinking  to  injure  others  ;  yea  those,  who 
"  if  they  had  taken  the  opportunity  in  their  hands,  they  might 
"  have  done  you  more  prejudice  than  a  thousand  such  mens  lives 
"  be  worth,  who  persuade  you  to  avow  such  deeds,  as  to  oblige 
•'  the  best  deserving  of  your  subjects  to  demand  a  faultless  pardon. 
"  Why  do  you  forget  what  you  wrote  to  myself  with  your  own 
"  hand,  shewing  how  dangerous  a  course  the  duke  was  entred  in, 
"  though  you  seemed  to  excuse  him,  as  if  he  had  intended  no  evil 
"  therein  ?  And  yet  you  would  make  them  guilty  who  delivered 
"  you  therefrom.  I  hope  you  more  esteem  your  honour,  than  to 
"  give  it  such  a  stain  ;  since  you  have  so  oft  protested.  That  you 
"  was  resolved  to  notice  these  lords  as  your  most  affectionate 
"  subjects,  in  the  full  persuasion  that  all  they  had  done  was  by 
"  them  intended  for  your  advantage.  To  conclude,  I  beseech 
*"  you  proceed  no  further  in  this  course,  till  you  receive  an  express 
"  rnessenger,  a  trusty  servant  of  mine,  by  whom  I  intend  to  deal 
"  as  an  affectionate  sister  with  you,  as  one  from  whom  you  may 
"  see  you  shall  receive  honour  and  contentment,  with  rnore 
"  surety  to  yourself  and  state,  than  by  following  the  pernicious 
"'  counsels  of  these  crafty  dissembling  counsellors,  as  knows  the 
"  Lord  ;   to  whose  safe  keeping  I  do  commit  you." 

Your   most   assured   and   faithfullest   sister 
and  cousin, 

ELIZABETH. 

155 


THE  MEMOIRS  OF 


Unto  this  letter  his  Majesty  commanded  me  in  his  name  to 
write  an  answer,  that  he  might  write  it  over  again  with  is  own 
hand  :  for  the  secretary  for  the  time  was  in  suspicion  to  have  been 
upon  the  contrary  course.     The  answer  was  as  followeth. 


MADAM, 

"  TT  Have  received  a  letter  of  your's,  containing  in  the  entry 
I  "  that  sentence  of  Isocrates,  which  willeth  princes  words 
M  "  to  be  more  entirely  observed  than  other  men's  oaths  ;  as 
"  though  some  sinister  report  were  made  unto  you  of  some 
"  forgetfulness  in  me,  or  that  you  fear,  that  in  time  coming  I  fail 
"  in  keeping  such  promises  unto  my  friends,  as  may  be  made 
"  upon  just  and  convenient  occasions. 

"  For  answer  unto  that  head,  I  remember  another  saying  of 
"  Isocrates,  where  he  would  not  have  them  repute  friends  who 
"  allow  or  praise  whatsoever  we  say  or  do,  but  rather  such  who 
"  modestly  reprove  our  faults.  So  that  I  take  your  sharp  ad- 
"  monition  at  this  time  as  proceeding  from  a  sisterly  love,  albeit 
"  upon  wrong  information  ;  hoping  that  so  soon  as  you  shall 
"  truly  understand  of  my  hard  handling  and  patient  behaviour, 
"  you  shall  be  so  well  satisfied,  as  to  deem  me  to  have  done  nothing 
"  but  that  which  you  would  have  done  yourself  in  the  like 
"  condition. 

"  First,  when  I  was  detained  captive  under  a  fair  pretext,  it 
"  pleased  you  to  send  your  ambassadors  (like  as  did  the  King  of 
"  France)  friendly  to  visit  me,  offering  me  great  kindness  and 
"  help,  in  case  I  needed  any  for  the  time  ;  for  which  I  do  yet 
"  render  your  Majesty  hearty  thanks  :  which  offer  I  did  not  think 
"  fit  to  embrace,  alledging  that  I  was  well  content,  and  had  good 
"  friends  about  me,  which  was  very  true  ;  for  one  part  of  these 
"  same  lords  who  were  then  about  me  perceiving  my  grief  and 
"  miscontent,  offered  then  to  relieve  me,  whensoever  I  would 
"  desire  to  be  at  greater  liberty.  Whereupon  I  made  you  then 
"  that  answer  whereof  you  make  mention  in  your  letter,  as  I  gave 
"  the  like  answer  to  the  French  ambassador.  Nevertheless  I 
"  was  resolved  at  a  fit  time  to  relieve  myself,  for  my  honour,  as  I 
"  have  done  lately  ;  following  another  saying  of  Isocrates,  willing 
"  princes  to  hazard  rather  to  die  honestly,  than  to  reign  shame- 
"  fully  :  for  how  I  did  reign  for  the  time,  3  ou  might  know  by 
"  your  cousin,  Mr.  Cary,  in  whose  eai  I  rounded  my  familiar 
"  inward  grief,  because,  he  said  you  desired  him  to  require  it  at  me 
"  apart,  promising  that  it  should  be  secretly  kept  from  all  others  ; 
"  albeit  I  used  not  such  freedom  with  Mr.  Bowes.  Indeed  I 
"  subscribed  such  writs  and  letters  as  the  said  lords  presented  to 
"  me  ;  for  the  time  was  unfiit  to  dispute  too  precisely  upon  cirum- 

156 


SIR  JAMES  MELVILLE 


"  stances  that  were  determined  by  those  who  were  masters  of 
"  me  and  the  state. 

"  This  answer  I  suppose  will  satisfy  your  own  reasonable  and 
"  equitable  judgment,  discreetly  considering  the  same  with 
"  yourself  apart.  I  doubt  if  it  will  be  so  interpreted  by  others  of 
"  your  council,  who  have  particular  designs  of  their  own  ;  to 
"  whom,  because  I  impute  the  whole  hard  language  contained 
"  in  your  angry  letter,  and  not  to  yourself  and  gentle  inclination, 
"  I  think  it  needful  now  to  write  an  answer  unto  every  part  of  the 
"  same.  So,  attending  patiently  upon  your  better  intelligence 
"  and  information  in  these  matters,  I  will  rather  retain  in  my 
"  memory  your  former  fruitful  friendship,  than  now  start  at  any 
"  wrong  set  syllable  or  sowre  sentence,  placed  in  your  paper  at 
"  the  partial  instance  of  others. 

"  As  concerning  that  which  toucheth  the  duke  of  Lenox,  his 
"  godly  end  hath  declared  his  honest  m.eaning  ;  whose  death  I 
"  might  justly  lay  upon  such  as  forcibly  removed  him  from  my 
"  presence  :  nevertheless  I  resolve  to  put  all  bygones  in  oblivion, 
"  neither  to  compel  any  man  to  take  a  faultless  pardon. 

"  Where  you  desire  that  I  proceed  no  further  until  a  trusty 
"  messenger  may  come  from  you,  I  intend  to  stay  from  doing 
"  any  thing  till  then,  that  you  may  be  justly  offended  with,  (albeit 
"  Isocrates  ad^■ises  princes  speedily  to  execute  such  turns  as  good 
"  counsel  thinks  necessary  to  be  done)  wishing  that  he  who  shall 
"  be  sent  may  be  as  willing  to  work  the  effects  of  true  love  and 
"  friendship  betwixt  us,  as  I  am  assured  it  is  both  our  hearts 
"  desire  and  intention  :  whereto  I  pray  the  Lord  to  grant  increase, 
"  continuance  and  happiness,  to  his  glory,  and  to  the  weal,  peace 
"  and  quiet  of  both  our  realms." 

The  secretary  Walsingham  was  he  of  whom  mention  is  made 
in  her  Majesty's  letter  to  be  sent  in  here  ;  but  he  was  long  by  the 
way,  by  reason  that  he  was  sickly.  In  the  mean  time  Mr.  Bowes 
who  was  ambassador  resident  at  Edinburgh,  had  received  this 
letter  by  the  ordinary  post,  and  returned  the  answer.  He  declared 
many  commendations,  from  my  lord  Burleigh  and  several  of  the 
council  of  England,  to  my  brother  Sir  Robert  and  me,  alledging 
that  they  were  glad  to  hear  that  such  men  were  about  his  Majesty, 
that  were  of  their  religion,  and  with  whom  they  were  long 
acquainted,  wishing  many  such  to  be  in  court. 

About  this  time  the  earl  of  Arran  obtained  the  keeping  of  the 
castle  of  Stirling,  and  insinuated  himself  so  far  upon  his  Majesty, 
that  he  took  upon  him  the  whole  management  of  affairs,  and 
caused  sundry  noblemen  tu  be  banished,  as  the  earls  of  Mar, 
Angus,  and  the  master  of  Glammis,  and  divers  others  :  and  by 
his  insolency  he  drove  the  earl  of  Gowrie  from  court,  far  against 
his  Majesty's  intention  ;  who  sent  me  for  him  to  his  house,  to 
bring  him  again  to  court,  which  was  for  the  time  at  Cowpar  in 
Fife,  where  his  Majesty  agreed  him  and  the  earl  of  Arran.  But 
M  157 


THE  MEMOIRS  OF 


no  conditions  promised  were  kept  to  Gowrie,  so  that  he  was  so 
vexed,  that  he  resolved  to  leave  the  country. 

I  have  already  declared,  how  loth  I  was,  that  either  his  Majesty 
■should  leave  the  lords  who  were  about  him,  or  that  I  should  in 
any  wise  be  a  meddler  again  in  publick  affairs,  considering  the 
many  alterations  I  had  seen  by  long  and  hurtful  experience  : 
yet  the  affection  I  had  for  his  Majesty  engaged  me  not  to  refuse 
his  commands,  being  my  native  prince  and  master,  and  I  his 
humble  subject  and  sworn  servant,  first  as  his  domestick,  as  being 
one  of  the  gentlemen  of  his  chamber,  and  a  member  of  his  privy 
council.  But  after,  his  Majesty  being  taken,  I  was  no  niore 
admitted  by  his  keepers  ;  who  thought  fit  for  their  security,  to 
place  such  men  about  him  as  were  entirely  at  their  devotion. 
As  for  my  part,  as  I  was  sorry  that  his  Majesty  should  be  used  any 
other  way  than  at  his  own  pleasure,  so  I  was  much  satisfied  to  be 
permitted  to  live  quietly  at  home  the  rest  of  my  days  ;  yet  being 
called  again  by  his  Majesty,  I  waited  upon  his  commands.  Now 
again  perceiving  his  Majesty's  most  acceptable  proclamations 
slyly  and  cunningly  changed,  contrary  to  his  Majesty's  merciful 
intentions,  by  issuing  out  contrary  proclamations,  and  intending 
violent  pursuits  against  those  concerned  in  the  Road  of  Ruthven, 
whereby  too  great  a  number  of  noblemen  and  gentlemen  despaired 
of  their  safety  and  lives,  in  a  lamenting  manner  I  remembred  his 
Majesty,  how  he  was  abused,  and  what  great  inconveniencies 
were  like  to  ensue.  Thereupon  his  Majesty,  upon  my  relation, 
appeared  very  sorrowful,  and  assured  me  of  his  resolution  to 
amend  these  disorders.  But  it  was  his  misfortune  to  advise 
thereabouts  with  those  who  underhand  were  chief  instruments 
therein  ;  believing  that  because  he  loved  them,  they  also  loved  him 
and  the  weal  of  his  affairs.  They  again,  making  some  appearance 
of  intentions  of  satisfying  his  expectation,  indirectly,  by  means 
of  too  many  who  depended  upon  the  earl  of  .A.rran's  extraordinary 
credit  and  favour,  the  contrary  to  his  Majesty's  princely  and 
upright  meaning  was  brought  about  ;  so  that  many  noblemen 
left  the  country,  and  all  honest  men  left  the  court,  to  the  great 
satisfaction  of  the  earl  of  .\rran  and  his  wife,  who  had  the  greater 
opportunity  of  guiding  all.  And,  that  they  might  the  easier  set 
forward  this  course,  they  persuaded  his  Majesty  to  pass  to  Stirling, 
whither  they  knew  few  or  none  durst  repair  who  were  not  at  his 
devotion,  he  being  captain  of  the  said  castle,  and  provost  of  the 
town.  After  I  had  frequently  warned  his  Majesty  of  the  storm 
I  did  forsee  coming,  I  retired  myself  from  court. 

His  Majesty,  being  at  Stirling,  asked  frequently  for  me,  re- 
gretting that  I  was  not  continually  with  him.  Whereupon  the 
earl  of  Arran  advised  that  I  should  be  sent  ambassador  to  the 
Queen  of  England  upon  some  pretended  affair,  as  well  to  absent 
me  from  his  Majesty,  who  he  perceived  had  some  favour  for  me, 
as  to  take  occasion  upon  my  return  to  bring  me  in  disgrace,  as 
if  I  had  been  guilty  of  some  mismanagement,  because  he  knew, 

158 


SIR  JAMES  MELVILLE 


that  as  matters  stood,  I  could  do  no  good  at  that  time.  And 
commonly,  when  mens  commissions  take  no  good  effect,  they  are 
calumniated  by  their  enemies  and  envyers,  as  unfit  instruments, 
unskilful  and  undiscreet.  Which  calumnies  get  oft-times  too 
much  credit,  when  matters  succeed  not  conform  to  the  desire 
of  the  master.  For  this  end  he  had  engaged  his  Majesty  to  write 
for  me  :  but  before  his  letter  came  to  my  hands  for  the  said 
voyage,  I  had  indited  a  long  letter  to  have  sent  unto  his  Majesty, 
as  a  remembrancer  of  his  former  promises,  intentions  and  pro- 
clamations ;  shewing  what  inconveniencies  were  like  to  ensue 
the  setting  forward  of  a  contrary  course,  together  with  such 
remedies  as   I  could  judge  meetest  for  the  time. 

The  tenor  of  his  Majesty's  letter  to  me  was,  That  he  had  some 
matters  to  communicate  to  me,  wherein  he  resolved  to  employ 
both  my  advice  and  pains  :  and  therefore  he  desired  me  to  come 
to  Stirling  with  all  convenient  expedition  after  the  sight  of  the 
said  letter,  where  I  should  understand  more  amply  the  occasion 
of  my  being  sent  for,  as  I  would  do  him  accountable  pleasure  and 
good  service.  Written  from  the  castle  of  Stirling,  the  22d  of 
October,  1583. 

After  the  receipt  of  this  letter,  I  did  ride  unto  his  Majesty,  and 
took  with  me  the  letter  which  I  had  penned  before  ;  whereof 
the  copy  followeth. 


SIR, 

AS  it  hath  pleased  your  Majesty  heretofore  to  accept  of  my 
"  will  for  agreeable  service,  even  so  I  hope  that  your 
"  highness's  constant  favour  shssU  continue  toward  me 
"  now,  and  in  time  coming,  notwithstanding  my  present  absence. 
"  For  albeit  that,  during  your  Majesty's  young  age,  I  was  suffered 
"  to  live  happily  at  home,  from  the  handling  of  publick  affairs  ; 
"  yet  I  found  myself  obliged  to  bear  my  proportionable  burden  in 
"  your  service,  so  soon  as  it  should  please  your  Majesty  to  lay 
"  your  commands  on  me  for  that  effect,  being  then  most  assured 
"  to  walk  in  a  just  and  lawful  vocation  ;  which,  to  give  continual 
"  testimony  of  my  dutiful  obedience,  not  presuming  to  give  your 
*'  Majesty  counsel,  I  have  only  taken  the  boldness  to  present  to 
you  in  these  few  lines  my  simple  opinion  of  things  that  are 
"  apparently  to  fall  out  upon  your  Majesty's  late  proceedings. 
For  when  it  pleased  your  Majesty,  at  your  first  going  to  St. 
**  Andrew's,  to  take  upon  yourself  the  free  government  of  your 
"  affairs  ;  your  Majesty's  gracious  intention  and  proposition  then 
"  was  not  only  most  agreeable  to  all  the  lords,  barons,  and  ministers 
"  there  present  for  the  time,  but  also  to  the  rest  of  your  good 
"  subjects,  when  as  they  understood  of  j'our  merciful  inclinations. 

159 


THE  MEMOIRS  OF 


"  Which  being  now  otherwise  overturned,  than  was  either  first 
"  intended  or  determined,  is  able  to  breed  cumber  and  disorder, 
"  unless  your  Majesty  by  wisdom  and  dexterity  prevent  the 
"  apparent  inconveniencies.  For  it  pleased  your  Majesty  then 
"  openly  to  declare,  how  that  you  only  sought,  with  your  own 
"  reputation  and  safety,  the  weal  and  safety  of  your  whole  sub- 
"  jects,  as  being  willing  to  give  satisfaction  to  the  demands  of  the 
"  church,  to  agree  all  parties,  to  blot  out  of  memory  the  name  of 
"  factions,  and  put  in  perpetual  oblivion  all  crimes  committed  in 
"  your  Majesty's  minority,  acknowledging  all  such  as  chanced  to 
"  be  done  during  the  same  but  to  have  fallen  out  betwixt  subject 
**  and  subject,  for  such  particular  respects  as  your  Majesty  never 
"  purposed  to  impute  to  any  of  their  charges,  but  to  reign  over 
"  them  all  in  times  coming  as  a  gracious  father,  and  that  by  the 
"  advice  of  the  least  factious  and  best  affected  of  the  nobility, 
"  barons,  and  other  sufficient  subjects  :  no  man  to  be  placed 
"  about,  or  proscribed  from  your  Majesty,  by  favour  or  sirname, 
"  kin,  friend  or  ally,  but  for  sufficiency,  virtue  and  loyalty  :  as 
"  also,  if  any  were  to  be  absented,  or  sent  home  for  a  time  ;  it 
*'  should  not  be  done  at  the  instance  of  any  envious  suiter  of  his 
"  office,  or  particular  party  ;  but  for  your  Majesty's  honour  and 
"  safety,  during  your  pleasure  ;  leaving  them  still  in  hope,  through 
"  good  behaviour  to  obtain  again  familiar  access  about  your 
"  Majesty,  as  formerly. 

"  If  this  calm  course  had  been  followed,  there  was  appearance 
"  of  a  quiet  state.  But  the  altering  and  changing  this  gentle  kind 
"  of  dealing  to  a  sharp  and  violent  pursuit  of  sundry,  by  seeking 
"  out  over  many  faults  in  the  persons  of  so  many  great  and  active 
"  men,  hath  bred  such  discontent  and  so  furious  a  faction,  that 
"  if  sudden  remedy  be  not  provided,  civil  dissention  and  despaired 
"  enterprizes  ought  to  be  looked  for  by  all  such  as  have  sufficient 
"  experience  of  the  nature  of  Scotsmen,  and  seemly  intelligenced 
"  of  the  deportment  of  divers,  which  the  necessity  of  their  unsure 
"  estate  may  well  drive  them  honestly  to  take  in  hand. 
''~  "It  is  true  that  the  flourishing  of  commonwealths  consists 
*'  much  in  the  rewarding  of  the  good,  and  punishing  of  the  wicked. 
"  No  doubt  but  faults  enough  have  been  done  during  your 
"  nonage  ;  but  to  seek  them  out  narrowly,  and  to  punish  them 
*'  severely,  in  such  cases  and  at  such  times,  in  matters  wherein 
"  many  have  dipped,  is  no  safe  course.  Yea,  though  your  Majesty 
"  were  willing,  as  I  know  you  are  not,  I  cannot  see  how  you  can 
"  get  it  done  against  so  great  a  number,  having  so  small  substance 
"  and  few  forces,  and  so  potent  and  mighty  neighbours  lying  still 
"  at  wait  upon  all  such  controversies  and  occasions,  to  take 
"  advantage  thereof,  whereby  to  serve  their  own  turn.  This  con- 
"  sideration  also  ought  presently  to  be  noticed,  that  the  wonted 
"  reverence  born  by  the  subjects  unto  the  princely  authority  of 
"  their  sovereigns  is  much  decayed  in  this  kingdom,  by  reason  of 
*'  the  Queen's  youth  and  long  absence  ;    and  even  so  in  your 

l6o 


SIR  JAMES  MELVILLE 


"  Majesty's  time  for  the  like  causes,  but  chiefly  because  that  your 
"  Majesties  being  yet  young,  have  been  accompanied  this  time 
"  past  with  the  youngest  and  meanest  sort  of  your  nobihty  ; 
"  who,  albeit  they  may  be  faithful  and  honest  to  set  foward  your 
"  sen-ice,  yet  the  rest  of  your  subjects,  alledging  them  to  be 
"  factious,  igriorant  and  covetous,  doubt  of  their  discreet  be- 
"  haviour,  seeing  their  intentions  are  to  rule  by  force.  Hardly 
"  may  a  prince  assure  himself  at  all  occasions  to  chuse  a  sure 
"  course,  wherein  there  shall  be  no  peril  ;  for  commonly,  thinking 
"  to  escape  out  of  one  inconveniency,  he  falls  oft-times  into 
"  another  :  therefore  prudence  consists  in  understanding  the 
"  quality  of  dangers,  and  in  chusing  the  least  evil  for  the  best. 

Some  kingdoms  and  countries  are  governed  by  force,  some 
"  by  faii-ness  ;  on  the  other  part,  subjects  obey  either  for  awe, 
"  or  love.  That  prince  is  reputed  of  no  value,  who  cannot  win 
"  the  hearts  of  his  subjects  by  one  of  these  two  :  for  either  must 
**  the  means  be  taken  at  once  from  such  as  are  suspected 
"  deservedly,  whereby  they  may  do  harm  ;  or  else  they  must 
"  be  satisfied  in  such  sort  as  in  reason  they  may  be  content,  and 
"  so  serve  for  love  and  not  for  awe.  So  that  it  is  easy  to  judge 
"  which  of  these  two  governments  may  be  meetest  for  your 
"  Majesty. 

"  The  Emperor  Trajan,  being  demanded  wherefore  his  subjects 
"  loved  and  honoured  him  above  his  predecessors,  answered, 
"  Because  I  forgive  them  who  offend  me,  and  never  forget  any 
"  who  have  done  me  service.  Julius  Pollux,  master  to  Ca?sar, 
"  points  out  a  true  prince  to  be  of  divine  countenance,  godly, 
"  merciful,  just,  equitable,  careful  of  his  affairs,  constant  in  his 
"  deeds,  true  in  his  promises,  subject  unto  reason,  master  over 
"  his  affections,  fatherly  towards  his  subjects,  of  easy  access, 
"  gentle  to  be  spoken  to,  ready  to  forgive,  slow  to  punish,  princely, 
"  liberal,  subtil,  secret,  and  sharp  of  ingeny. 

"  Now,  because  it  appeareth  your  Majesty  in  youth  hath  been 
"  suflnciently  versed  in  many  of  these  virtuous  precepts,  I  wish 
"  from  my  heart  that  such  impressions  may  be  as  well  taken  of 
"  them  that  are  presently  about  you,  seeing  that  princes  are 
"  commonly  deemed  to  be  like  those  whom  they  make  most  their 
"  familiars. 

"  Therefore,  Sir,  for  eschewing  all  those  evils,  and  to  put  the 
"  nearest  remedy  unto  all  the  appearing  inconveniencies,  it  is  fit, 
"  so  soon  as  it  may  please  your  Majesty,  to  pass  to  Edinburgh, 
"  to  convene  the  most  ancient  of  your  nobility  and  barons  of  best 
"  reputation,  by  whose  advice,  together  with  those  that  are  already 
"  in  court,  your  country  may  be  quieted,  and  your  subjects 
"  satisfied.  For  now,  as  matters  are  handled,  to  speak  of  clemency 
"  by  causing  them  to  take  remissions,  it  will  want  credit,  and  he  ill 
"  interpreted,  as  not  conform  to  your  Majesty's  first  declaration. 

"  The  Emperor  Adrian  enquired  after  men  of  great  age  and 
"  experience,  and  helped  himself  by  their  many  perils. 

i6i 


THE  MEMOIRS  OF 


"  Alexander  Severus  would  perform  no  matter  of  importance, 
"  but  with  advice  of  the  most  ancient  and  best  experimented. 
"  He  never  went  out  of  Rome  unaccompanied  with  four  or  five  of 
"  most  honourable,  ancient  and  grave  personages,  that  none 
*'  should  need  to  fear  that  he  would  commit  any  error.  He  never 
"  suffered  the  senate  to  conclude  any  weighty  purpose,  unless 
"  fifty  of  them  had  been  present.  He  caused  all  his  counsellors 
"  to  put  their  opinions  in  writing,  to  see  if  any  were  possessed 
"  with  passions  or  partialities.  He  changed  oft  his  familiarity 
**  with  sundry  of  the  senate,  lest  he  who  had  always  his  ear  might 
*'  be  overcome  with  importunate  pursuits,  or  partiality. 

"  The  urgent  necessity  of  the  time,  most  noble  and  excellent 
"  prince,  causeth  me  to  be  so  tedious.  Humbly  craving  pardon, 
"  and  heartily  kissing  your  Majesty's  hands,  I  pray  the  eternal 
"  God  grant  vou  long  and  happy  life. 

From  Halhill,  this  15.  Your  Majesty's  most  humble  and 

of  October,  1583.  obedient  servitour, 


JAMES    MELVILLE. 


When  I  came  to  Stirling,  and  shewed  his  Majesty  this  letter, 
he  not  only  liked  well  of  it,  but  engaged  to  follow  the  advice  therein 
contained.  He  lamented  to  me  the  partial  dealing  of  those  about 
him  :  only  he  said,  that  my  brother  Sir  Robert  was  upon  a  sound 
course  for  quieting  of  the  estate  ;  and  that  some  noblemen, 
against  whose  partialities  he  had  opposed  himself,  had  discorded 
with  him  in  his  Majesty's  presence.  It  pleased  his  Majesty  also 
to  tell  me,  that  the  cause  why  I  was  written  for,  was  to  be  sent  to 
England,  to  travel  with  the  Queen  there,  for  entertainment  of 
mutual  amity,  and  inciease  of  her  favour  and  good-will  concerning 
the  title  and  succession  to  the  crown  of  England,  and  assistance 
to  help  to  establish  his  troubled  estate,  perturbed  by  the  insolence 
and  partialities  of  his  subjects,  bred  and  engendred  among  them 
during  his  minority. 

I  answered.  That  I  judged  it  was  a  very  unmeet  time,  seeing  I 
knew,  as  matters  stood  in  Scotland,  that  England  would  make  no 
account  of  him,  nor  of  any  that  would  be  sent  from  him,  until  first 
he  would  let  it  be  seen  and  heard,  that  he  could  settle  his  own 
estate,  and,  by  his  wise  and  prudent  management,  render  his  own 
subjects  obedient  to  his  commands  ;  this  being  done,  they  would 
honour  and  esteem  him.  And  that  the  best  and  readiest  way  to 
obtain  also  one  day  the  crown  of  England  was,  to  guide  Scotland 
so  well,  that  they  might  find  ground  some  day  to  wish  to  be  under 
the  government  of  such  a  prince.  By  this  kind  language,  and  his 
Majesty  pondering  what  ground  I  had  to  use  the  same,  he  was 

162 


SIR  JAMES  MELVILLE 


satisfied  that  my  voyage  should  be  stayed  till  a  more  convenient 
time.     So  I  returned  from  court  to  my  own  house. 

It  is  mentioned  here  above  in  the  Queen  of  England's  letter, 
how  that  she  was  minded  to  send  a  trusty  servant  unto  his  Majesty, 
willing  him  to  stay  from  any  strict  proceeding  against  the  lords, 
who  were  pricked  at  for  the  Road  of  Ruthven,  until  the  arriving 
of  the  said  ambassador,  who  was  the  secretary  Walsingham,  a 
counsellor  of  worthy  qualities,  who  had  great  credit  with  the 
Queen  of  England.  But  he  was  of  a  sickly  complexion,  and  was 
not  able  to  endure  riding  post,  therefore  he  was  long  by  the  way, 
being  carried  in  a  chariot.  So  that  during  his  longsome  voyage 
the  earl  of  Arran  went  ay  forward,  forgetting  the  tenor  of  the 
Queen  of  England's  letter. 

So  soon  as  his  Majesty  was  advertised  of  the  arrival  of  Sir 
Francis  Walsingham,  I  was  sent  for  to  come  to  court,  and  directed 
to  ride  and  welcome  him  in  his  Majesty's  name,  to  bear  him 
company,  and  convoy  him  about  by  Stirling  to  St.  Johnston, 
where  his  Majesty  thought  fit  to  give  him  audience.  Desiring 
me  also  to  say  unto  him.  That  his  Majesty  was  very  glad  of  the 
coming  of  such  a  notable  personage,  who  was  known  to  be  endued 
with  religion  and  wisdom,  whom  he  had  ever  esteemed  as  his 
special  friend,  being  assured  that  his  tedious  travel  in  his  long 
voyage  (being  diseased  as  he  was)  tended  to  more  substantial 
points  for  the  confirmation  of  the  amity  between  the  Queen  his 
sister  and  him,  than  had  been  perfomned  at  any  time  before. 

The  secretary  Walsingham  answered  me  again.  That  the  great 
desire  he  had  to  establish  an  assured  amity  betwixt  the  two  princes 
and  countries,  moved  him  to  undertake  the  ambassage  himself, 
his  Majesty  being  the  prince  in  the  world  that  he  loved  next  unto 
the  Queen  his  mistress,  and  wished  most  to  see  and  be  acquainted 
with.  And  that  he  hoped  his  commission  should  succeed  the 
better,  that  he  had  met  first  with  me  his  old  friend,  and  only 
acquaintance  in  Scotland.  For  we  had  been  companions  abroad 
upon  our  travels,  and  divers  times  when  I  was  sent  to  or  passed 
through  England,  he  would  have  me  to  lodge  and  ly  with  himself 
at  London,  which  occasioned  that  we  had  more  familiar 
conferences.  Whereupon  1  did  write  two  several  letters,  that 
his  Majesty  might  be  the  better  provided  to  make  answer  to  such 
heads  as  I  knew  he  would  propose.  Then  we  took  our  journey 
through  Linlithgow  to  Stirling,  and  from  that  to  Perth.  He  had 
heard  that  my  lord  Seaton  and  Livingston  were  written  unto  to 
convoy  him  ;  but  he  requested  me  to  stay  them,  that  he  might 
have  the  more  conference  by  the  way  with  me,  othen^'ise  he  would 
be  compelled  to  entertain  the  noblemen.  I  judged  it  probable 
that  his  design  in  this  was,  to  let  me  see  his  own  train  ;  for  he 
was  seven-score  horse  in  company.  Being  near  the  court,  his 
Majesty  sent  out  two  of  the  council  to  meet  him,  to  wit,  miy  lord 
of  Down,  and  my  brother  Sir  Robert. 

The  next  day  his  Majesty  gave  him  audience,  accompanied 

163 


THE  MEMOIRS  OF 


with  Mr.  Bowes  ambassador  resident  in  Scotland.     Their  first 
reasoning  was  upon  his  Majesty's  liberty,  and  wherefore  he  had 
left  the  company  who  were  about  him,  being  the  best  and  most 
religious  sort  of  the  nobility,  and  of  her  Majesty's  best  acquain- 
tance, and  by  whom  she  would  deal  in  her  affairs  more  friendly 
than  she  could  do  with  others,  whom  she  could  not  so  well  credit. 
Whereunto  his  Majesty  made  answer  so  gravely  and   directly, 
that  Walsingham  wondered.     The  next  day  his  Majesty  appointed 
four  of  the  council,  and  myself  to  be  with  them,  to  reason  with 
him,  and  to  sound  what  he  would  be  at.     But  he  refused  to  deal 
with  any  but  with  his  Majesty,  who  heard  him  again  without  Mr. 
Bowes.     Where  he  discoursed  long  with  his  Majesty  ;   and  when 
he  came  forth  from  his  Majesty,  he  took  me  by  the  hand,  and 
said,  That  he  was  the  best  content  man  that  could  be,  for  he  had 
spoken  with  a  notable  young  prince,  ignorant  of  nothing,  and  of 
so  great  expectation,  that  he  thought  his  travel  well  bestowed. 
The  earl  of  Arran  desired  to  enter  into  familiar  conference  with 
him,  but  he  refused  to  speak  with  him  ;   making  no  longer  stay, 
but  took  leave  of  his  Majesty,  who  commanded  me  to  accompany 
him  to  the  ferry.     At  out  parting,  he  promised  at  all  occasions  to 
write  to  me,  and  much  lamented  that  the  earl  of  Arran  was  again 
in  court,  and  in  such  credit  with  his  Majesty.     Which  he  said  if 
he  had  understood  before  he  took  his  journey,  he  would  have 
shifted  the  same,  and  suffered  some  other  to  have  been  sent. 
For  he  could  see  no  sure  course  could  be  taken  between  their 
Majesties,  so  long  as  such  instruments  had  such  credit  about  him. 
For  he  esteemed  the  said  earl  a  scorner  of  religion,  a  sower  of 
discord,  and  a  despiser  of  true  and  honest  men  ;    and  therefore 
he  refused  to  speak  with  him,  or  enter  into  acquaintance  :    for 
he  was  of  a  contrary  nature,  religious,  true,  and  a  lover  of  all 
honest  men.     Therefore  Arran  to  be  revenged  upon  him,  spared 
not  to  do  a  great  dishonour  to  his  Majesty.     First  for  despite, 
that  he  refused  to  speak  with  him,  he  caused  refuse  to  permit  the 
captains  of  Berwick,  and  divers  other  honest  gentlemen,  who 
came    to    convoy   the   secretary   Walsingham,   the   entry   of  his 
Majesty's    chamber   door.     And    then   he   caused   to   prepare   a 
scornful  present  for  him  at  his  departure,  to  wit,  a  ring  with  a 
stone  of  chtystal,  instead  of  a  rich  diamond  which  his  Majesty 
had  appointed  for  him,  valued  at  700  crowns,  which  he  was  oft- 
times  minded  to  send  back  again  unto  his  Majesty,  rather  to  let 
him  see  how  he  was  abused,  than  how  he  was  used.     Some 
promise   was   also   made   unto   him,    about   the   repairing   some 
wrongs  done  by  Scotsmen  upon  the  borders,  which  he  alledged 
was  not  kept.     For  Arran  did  what  he  could  to  displease  him, 
and  to  render  his  commission  in  all  points  ineffectual,  and  his 
travel   in   vain.     Nevertheless   he   made   so   good   report  of  his 
Majesty's  virtues  and  qualities,  that  it  put  him  in  some  suspicion 
at  his  return  to  the  court  of  England,  where  shortly  after  he  took 
sickness  and  died.     My  opinion  is,  That  if  God  had  granted  him 

164 


SIR  JAMES  MELVILLE 


longer  life,  he  would  have  been  found  a  great  friend  to  his  Majesty, 
who  marvelled  that  the  chief  secretary  of  England,  burdened  with 
so  many  great  affairs,  sickly  and  aged,  should  have  enterprized 
so  painful  a  voyage  without  any  purpose.  For  it  could  not  be 
yet  perceived,  what  was  his  errand,  save  only  that  he  gave  his 
Majesty  good  counsel.  But  he,  being  religious  and  of  a  good 
conscience,  was  desirous  to  see  and  understand  assuredly  such 
qualifications  to  be  in  his  Majest>',  whereof  he  had  frequently 
been  informed.  He  returned  with  great  contentment  in  his 
mind  for  that  part  ;  but  very  sorrowful  for  the  company  that  he 
found  in  greatest  favour  and  credit  about  his  Majesty.  Which 
was  the  more  unexpected,  by  reason  of  a  letter  that  his  Majesty 
had  sent  unto  the  Queen  his  mistress,  promising  not  to  bring  in 
again  to  court  the  earl  of  Arran,  without  her  advice  and  consent. 
For  my  part  I  never  saw  such  appearance  of  a  prosperous  estate 
for  his  Majesty's  honour,  suretj',  love,  and  obedience  of  his  own 
subjects,  increase  of  the  number  of  his  friends  in  England  to  the 
advancement  of  his  title,  neither  before  that  time  nor  since  ;  if 
the  said  Arran  had  not  been  brought  again  to  court,  which  I  left 
not  undeclared  to  his  Majesty  divers  times,  not  without  some 
danger. 

Indeed  his  Majesty's  intention  was  not  that  he  should  stay 
at  court,  but  only  to  come  and  kiss  his  hand.  But  he  again  being 
once  entred,  won  some  of  the  lords,  whose  particulars  he  promised 
to  set  forward,  if  they  would  concur  with  him,  and  shew  his 
Majesty  that  his  presence  about  his  person  was  necessary,  and 
that  my  gentle  proceedings  would  ruin  the  King's  interest,  and 
them  all.  Managing  thus  the  matter,  he  remained  at  court,  and 
minded  to  make  himself  and  his  assisters  rich  by  the  wreck  and 
spoil  of  others,  who  had  taken  his  Majesty  at  the  Road  of  Ruthven  ; 
and  then  he  and  they  were  to  guide  all  at  their  pleasure.  So 
many  of  them,  who  shot  at  particular  marks,  ran  a  strait  course 
with  him,  because  they  thought  by  his  credit  to  make  up 
themselves.  They  feared  to  lose  his  Majesty's  favour,  in  case 
Arran  was  not  their  friend.  And  some  of  them  did  what  they 
could,  to  persuade  me  to  do  the  like,  alledging  that  otherwise 
I  should  be  shut  out.  Which  came  to  pass  shortly  after,  because 
I  would  not  yield  nor  concur  to  cast  all  loose,  to  the  peril  of  his 
Majesty's  estate  and  reputation,  remembering  what  was  intended, 
promised,  and  proclaimed  at  his  Majesty's  obtaining  his  liberty. 

It  is  certain  that  the  lords  who  made  that  enterprize  had  great 
occasion  given  them  to  be  discontent,  but  no  sufficient  cause  to 
oblige  them  to  compel  their  sovereign  prince  to  remove  from 
him  those  he  so  well  liked.  Which  rebellious  proceeding  com- 
pelled them  also  for  their  surety  to  retain  and  hold  the  King  as 
captive.  His  Majety  again  being  advertised  and  admonished, 
that  the  dangerous  proceedings  of  the  duke  of  Lenox  and  earl  of 
Arran  were  like  to  breed  disorder,  took  too  little  care  to  prevent 
the  appareqt  inconveniencies,  and  used  too  little  diligence  to  get 

165 


THE  MEMOIRS  OF 


sure  intelligence  and  information  thereof  ;  which  brought  him 
to  that  strait  of  being  taken,  and  kept.  For  it  had  been  less  pains 
to  have  taken  good  notice  in  due  time,  how  his  country  was 
governed,  than  to  put  order  or  remedy  thereto  afterward.  For 
it  is  no  little  error,  to  render  the  most  part  of  the  nobility  and 
•subjects  malecontent  ;  nor  no  great  wisdom  after  his  Majesty 
was  in  their  hands,  to  slip  from  them  without  their  consents  ; 
the  enterprizers,  assisters  and  allowers  of  the  deed  being  so 
considerable  a  number  as  could  not  be  overcome  but  by  patience, 
not  punished  but  by  subversion  of  the  state,  and  endangering  of  the 
prince  his  own  person.  Yet  it  pleased  God  to  guide  his  Majesty 
to  his  liberty  (albeit  not  without  some  peril)  with  honour  at  the 
first,  and  with  the  universal  contentment  of  all  his  subjects,  so 
soon  as  they  understood  his  honest  meaning  and  gracious  de- 
liberation, as  well  by  promise  as  by  proclamation,  as  is  already 
specified.  For  my  part,  I  forget  not  at  all  occasions  to  remember 
his  Majesty.  I  refused  the  office  of  secretary  when  offered  by 
his  Majesty  in  reward  of  my  service  ;  because  it  was  promised 
that  no  man  should  want  his  offices,  benefits,  lands  or  escheats. 
I  opposed  myself  in  full  council  against  the  earl  of  Arran,  because 
he  had  formed  a  proclamation  against  the  lords  of  the  Road  of 
Ruthven,  contrary  to  his  Majesty's  former  proclamation  of  grace 
and  oblivion  :  for  which  he  leapt  out  of  the  house  in  a  great  rage 
at  me,  and  for  despite  he  made  a  list  of  the  names  of  so  many  as 
should  be  upon  the  privy  council,  and  left  out  my  name.  Like- 
wise he  named  so  many  of  his  dependers  as  should  serve  in  every 
office,  which  his  Majesty  was  resolved  not  to  acquiesce  to,  without 
my  advice.  Yet  he  prevailed  with  his  Majesty  to  subscribe  the 
same,  assisted  by  the  foresaid  lords,  who  took  plain  part  with  him. 
So  I  was  shut  out  of  door,  and  had  no  more  place  to  do  good. 
His  Majesty  graciously  excused  the  matter,  and  said.  That  the 
lords  had  no  will  of  two  brothers  being  upon  the  council  ;  but 
when  he  should  get  a  wife,  I  should  be  her  counsellor,  and  chief 
about  her.  So  that  if  they  were  glad  to  be  quit  of  me,  I  was  as 
glad  to  be  free  of  them,  and  not  to  be  partakers  with  them 
in  advices  tending  directly  to  endanger  the  prince  and  the 
country. 

Yet  his  Majesty  assured  me,  that  he  would  go  to  Edinburgh, 
according  to  the  advice  I  had  given  in  my  forementioned  letter, 
and  convene  the  nobility,  barons,  and  others  whom  I  had  named, 
in  order  to  the  settling  of  the  country.  And  in  the  mean  time 
he  told  me,  That  the  earl  of  Arran  thought  fit  to  send  to  England 
the  bishop  of  St.  Andrew's,  alledging.  That  he  was  passing  to  the 
Spaw  for  recovery  of  his  health  :  who  passing  through  England, 
might  have  commission  to  deal  with  that  Queen  in  his  Majesty's 
affairs.  And  in  case  he  found  her  willing  to  discourse  friendly 
and  freely,  he  should  then  shew  her  that  his  Majesty  would  send 
me  thither,  to  satisfy  her  more  sufficiently  in  such  things  as  she 
would  require.     And  to  that  effect  the  said  bishop  should  send 

166 


SIR  JAMES  MELVILLE 


back  word  by  a  gentleman,  captain  Robert  Alelville,  who  went 
thither  expresly  to  be  sent  back  with  the  said  answer. 

I  was  commanded  to  write  in  the  bishop's  favour  ;  but  he  was 
too  well  known  in  England.  For  Mr.  Bowes,  who  remained 
long  in  this  country,  had  informed  them  sufficiently  of  the  said 
bishop's  qualities,  who  was  disdained  in  England,  and  dishonoured 
his  country  by  borrowing  of  gold  and  precious  furniture  from  the 
bishop  of  London,  and  divers  others,  which  was  never  restored, 
nor  paid  for.  His  Majesty  nevertheless  would  have  me  to  grant 
to  go  to  England,  and  to  be  in  readiness.  He  desired  me  to  make 
my  own  instructions,  alledging,  that  I  knew  what  was  meetest 
for  him  to  require  at  that  time. 

I  would  not  take  upon  me  to  make  my  own  instructions,  but  I 
promised  to  pen  the  speech  that  I  would  think  most  proper  to 
recite  to  her  Majest\%  in  case  I  went  thither,  and  which  I  would 
judge  to  be  the  fittest  language  that  any  sent  thither  could  speak 
for  the  time.  After  his  Majesty  had  perused  the  same,  he  much 
relished  it,  and  declared  it  was  fully  conform  to  his  own  intentions. 
It  was  in  these  words. 


MADAM, 

"  >4  Lbeit  that  your  Majesty  be  as  sufficiently  certified  of  the 
/-\  "  King  my  sovereign's  conformable  mind  to  satisfy  your 
J^  JL"  Majesty',  as  well  by  Sir  Francis  Walsingham  your  secre- 
"  tary,  as  by  the  bishop  of  St.  Andiew's  his  ambassador,  granting 
"  the  one  his  whole  desires  by  mouth,  and  declaring  by  the  other 
"  how  strictly  he  hath  observed  and  performed  the  same  ;  in 
"  effect  more  to  satisfy  your  motherly  mind,  by  shewing  the 
"  tokens  of  a  thankful  and  obedient  son,  than  for  any  great  ad- 
"  vantage  he  perceives  you  thereby  seek  for  yourself.  So  that 
"  it  is  his  Majesty's  intention,  chiefly  seeing  he  hath  taken  the 
"  rudder  into  his  own  hand,  to  discover  to  you  ay  the  longer  the 
"  more  the  perfect  fruits  of  his  hearty  affection. 

"  For  now  having  attained  unto  some  years  of  knowledge  and 
"  dear  bought  experience  (by  that  which  hath  been  oft  beat  in  his 
"  ears)  he  is  not  ignorant  how  that  your  Majesty's  favour  and 
"  assistance  will  be  more  contributive  for  his  advantage  and 
"  advancement,  than  can  be  any,  or  that  he  can  obtain  from  all  the 
"  other  princes  in  Europe.  Your  Majesty  being  to  him  so  dear  a 
"  mother,  and  so  near  a  neighbour,  both  your  subjects  appearing 
"  to  be  but  one  people  ;  especially  since  your  prudent  govern- 
"  ment  began,  the  effects  whereof  hath  not  only  been  found  by 
"  your  own,  but  by  your  neighbours  ;  the  same  having  extended 
"  it  self  to  the  advantage  of  other  kingdoms,  especially  over- 
"  shadowing   this   whole   island,   to   your   Majesty's   everlasting 

167 


THE  MEMOIRS  OF 


"  honour.  For  never  in  any  prince's  days  hath  been  seen  so 
"  much  rest,  so  great  riches  and  fehcity  in  England  ;  which 
"  likewise  might  have  been  in  Scotland,  if  the  particularities  of 
"  some  of  the  subjects  had  suffered  them  to  have  followed  your 
"  sage,  charitable  and  loving  admonitions.  As  the  consideration 
"  thereof  is  the  reason  which  induced  his  Majesty,  whom  the 
"  matter  most  toucheth,  to  diiect  me  to  your  Majesty,  after  ripe 
"  deliberation,  and  upon  the  sure  ground  of  the  good  information 
"  of  such  as  were  best  inclined,  and  have  greatest  experience, 
"  to  seek  the  assistance  which  he  hath  so  oft  seen  sent  unto  him, 
"  help  and  wholesom  advice  where  he  hath  so  oft  found  it,  and 
"  salutary  plaisters  to  be  laid  unto  the  sores  that  yet  daily  breed 
"  and  rise  in  his  realm^  as  remains  of  the  canl^er  and  disorder 
"  engendered  during  his  minority. 

"  Seeing  then  the  thing  that  he  craves,  is  your  accustomed 
"  kindness  and  counsel,  which  because  the  strength  of  your 
'*  constancy  will  compel  j'ou  to  continue  towards  him,  he  is  the 
"  more  humbly  to  suit  the  same,  as  most  seemly  for  his  nearness 
"  of  kin,  age  and  estate  to  do  :  persuading  himself  that  such 
"  friendly  offices  might  be  used  between  you,  as  may  tend  to  both 
"  your  contentments,  and  weal  of  your  kingdoms  ;  which  for 
"  lack  of  sure  inteUigence  of  others  minds  by  secret  and  mutual 
"  conference  of  devotious  and  discreet  instruments,  might  other- 
"  wise  turn  to  the  contrary.  ?• 

"  The  King  my  master  knows  that  a  mighty  man  cannot  stand 
"  upon  one  side  ;  he  grants  that  he  hath  now  greater  need  of 
"  your  help  than  you  of  his  in  many  things.  But  he  thinks  him- 
"  self  as  able,  and  is  as  willing  to  deserve  favour  at  your  hand,  as 
"  any  who  can  contend  with  him  for  the  same,  or  would  presume 
"  to  sound  the  bell  of  succession  in  your  ears.  For  his  part,  he 
"  requires  no  instant  declaration  thereof,  but  will  continually 
"  crave  by  his  behaviour  all  such  preferment,  as  an  humble  son 
"  ought  to  seek  at  the  hands  of  a  loving  and  hearty  mother. 
"  Because  he  believes,  that  a  word  of  your  Majesty's  mouth,  at 
"  a  convenient  time,  will  sufficiently  serve  his  turn,  being  yet 
"  young  enough  to  await  upon  any  benefit  you  shall  be  pleased 
"  to  bestow  upon  him.  Acknowledging  the  prorogation  of  your 
"  years  most  profitable  to  supply  his  youth  ;  and  considering 
"  the  necessity  he  hath  now  of  your  assistance,  in  the  ruling  of 
"  this  his  troubled  estate,  he  believes  that  he  would  have  double 
"  need  of  your  help,  if  over-early  he  had  any  greater  handling. 

"  Therefore,  Madam,  he  desires  as  yet  to  recreate  himself  with 
■"  hunting  and  pastime,  until  he  be  of  greater  ripeness  and  maturity. 
"  Wishing  in  the  mean  time  unto  your  Majesty  a  long  life,  a 
"  prosperous  reign,  and  as  good  success  in  your  proceedings 
"  hereafter,  as  you  have  had  hitherto  ;  that  having  so  happily 
"  and  so  honourably  in  a  manner  ruled  both  the  realms  these 
"  many  years  bygone,  you  may  be  as  able  to  leave  them  so  joined 
*'  together  in  a  cordial  and  stable  monarchy.     And  that  the  blessed 

1 68 


SIR  JAMES  MELVILLE 


"  and  perfect  end  of  your  prudent  project  may  confirm  and  crown 
"  the  worthiness  of  your  reputation,  in  finishing  the  work  which 
"  so  many  had  so  oft  in  vain  enterprized,  as  the  only  prince  that 
"  ever  obtained  the  whole  handling  and  hearts  of  all  Britain 
"  without  blood.  The  first  thereof  begun  and  appropriate  in 
"  your  person,  so  pleasantly  and  peaceably  ruled  in  your  time  ; 
*'  and  so  justly  and  righteously  distribute  and  left  after  you,  not 
"  only  to  the  worthiest,  as  did  Alexander,  but  also  to  the  nearest 
"  of  your  friends  and  kinsfolk,  as  did  Caesar  to  avoid  blood- 
"  shedding  ;  then  as  before,  like  a  kindly  mother  to  the  King, 
"  the  country,  and  commonwealth,  to  the  great  pleasure  of  God, 
"  the  perpetual  praise  of  your  memory,  and  to  the  universal  weal 
**  and  pleasure  of  this  whole  island," 

* 

If  the  Queen  of  England  could  have  credited  his  Majesty,  she 
might  have  an  assured  friendship  and  concurrence  of  him  for  the 
time.  Certainly  his  Majesty  was  ever  minded  to  keep  this  kind 
of  friendly  and  discreet  correspondence  with  her.  For  he  was 
informed  how  little  speed  the  Queen  his  mother  had,  for  suiting 
continually  to  be  declared  second  person  of  England,  as  may  be 
seen  in  that  which  I  have  written  before,  touching  her  proceedings 
with  the  Queen  of  England,  who  I  knew  would  never  grant  to 
declare  a  second  person,  but  with  force  and  compulsion,  which 
was  never  in  the  power  of  Scotland  to  do,  during  the  rich  and 
peaceable  reign  of  that  Queen.  Yet  fair  and  discreet  language 
and  behaviour  gave  place  and  access  to  his  Majesty's  ambassadors, 
to  pass  to  and  fro,  to  gain  friends,  and  get  intelligence. 

Now  the  earl  of  Arran  perceiving  that  by  no  persuasion  he 
could  get  his  Majesty  stayed  from  executing  the  resolution  he 
had  laid  down  of  going  for  Edinburgh,  and  calling  a  convention 
of  such  noblemen,  barons,  burgesses  and  ministers  as  were 
meetest  to  settle  the  troubled  estate  of  the  country,  by  taking 
up  again  and  following  forth  his  former  gracious  intention  and 
promise,  both  by  proclamation  and  speeches  unto  divers  noble- 
men, barons  and  ministers.  The  said  earl  perceiving  that  he 
could  not  directly  stay  that  good  purpose,  so  contrary  to  his 
intentions,  he  first  made  his  interest  to  be  made  chancellor,  and 
then  captain  of  the  castle  of  Edinburgh,  that  by  his  great  offices, 
besides  his  credit  with  his  Majesty,  he  might  terrify  all  such  as 
durst  oppose  themselves  to  his  courses  or  propositions.  Then 
he  used  his  craft  to  pervert  and  draw  the  effect  of  the  convention, 
clear  contrary  to  his  Majesty's  intention.  For  he  dealt  and  spoke 
with  every  lord  and  baron  apart  at  their  coming,  shewing  them 
how  graciously  his  Majesty  was  minded  toward  such  as  had  taken 
him  at  the  road  of  Ruthven  ;  that  he  v/as  resolved  to  grant  every 
one  of  them  a  particular  remission,  some  of  them  to  be  a  while 
absent  out  of  the  country,  and  others  to  remain  at  hime  in  their 

169 


THE  MEMOIRS  OF 


own  houses  absent  from  court  :  alledging,  that  whoever  would 
say  that  this  form  of  punishment  was  not  great  clemency,  they 
would  lose  his  Majesty's  favour,  and  be  reputed  as  men  who  have 
no  respect  to  his  honour  and  surety  ;  it  having  been  so  odious  a 
crime  to  have  laid  hands  forcibly  upon  their  native  prince. 

This  matter  being  so  set  out,  and  declared  by  him  who  it  was 
thought  knew  most  of  his  Majesty's  mind,  and  had  most  of  his 
favour,  evidenced  by  his  having  the  greatest  offices  of  the  kingdom 
in  his  hand  ;  it  was  voted  by  them  all, '  To  be  great  clemency  used 
by  his  Majesty  towards  those  who  had  committed  so  odious  a 
crime.'  His  Majesty  not  conjecturing  the  trick  hereby  put  upon 
him,  in  rendring  his  gracious  intention  ineffectual,  was  very  glad 
to  hear  them  all  conclude  in  one  opinion,  not  imagining  they  had 
been  preoccupied  by  the  earl  of  Arran,  part  for  fear,  part  for 
ignorance,  others  for  flattery,  to  obtain  favour  of  him  who  they 
saw  guided  both  King  and  country.  Few  or  none  of  them,  for 
the  time,  considered  the  apparent  danger  of  rendring  those  plainly 
desperate,  who  were  ordained  to  take  remissions  for  that  which 
before  was  allowed  for  good  service,  in  respect  of  their  great 
number,  who  could  not  yet  be  punished  nor  quashed  without 
hazarding  his  Majesty's  own  princely  estate  and  credit  ;  which 
all  discreet  and  wise  princes  are  loth  to  bring  into  question.  This 
allowance  of  good  service  hath  been  oft  practised  in  France,  during 
the  time  of  their  civil  wars,  when  their  late  princes  were  but  yet 
young,  and  where  the  malecontents  and  pretenders  to  reform 
the  estate  were  so  many  and  mighty,  as  to  make  a  party  answerable 
to  that  of  their  King. 

Because  I  was  not  yet  come  to  the  first  day  of  the  said  con- 
vention, his  Majesty  told  me  that  same  night  at  my  coming,  what 
had  been  voted  at  their  first  meeting,  which  he  thought  would  be 
to  my  great  contentment,  desiring  me  the  next  day  to  be  present. 
I  answered,  I  was  soriy  from  my  heart  for  what  had  been  con- 
cluded, seeing  it  was  in  effect  clean  contrary  to  his  intention* 
For  whereas  he  thought  to  have  settled  his  estate,  it  was  cas* 
loose,  the  dye  was  now  cast,  and  the  dissention  so  increased  to  the 
kindling  of  new  enterprizes,  that  chance  would  bear  away  the 
mastery  and  victory.  For  those  who  were  compelled  to  take 
remission,  would  take  it  as  their  dittay,  and  that  finding  their 
former  securities  altered,  there  was  not  any  more  place  left  for 
any  sort  of  agreement. 

This  language  of  mine,  being  contrary  to  the  opinion  of  so 
many,  did  not  a  little  displease  his  Majesty.  He  asked  me,  If 
I  thought  not  the  road  of  Ruthven  treason  ?  I  answered,  That 
I  thought  it  so  indeed  ;  yet  since  not  only  his  Majesty  himself 
and  his  council  had  not  only  wisely  and  circumspectly  allowed 
it  for  good  service,  but  had  written  the  same  to  the  Queen  of 
England,  and  had  sent  his  commissioners  to  the  general  assembly 
hold  en  for  the  time  at  Edinburgh,  willing  the  ministers,  at  their 
return  to  their  parishes,  to  cause  the  principal  gentlemen  of  each 

170 


SIR  JAMES  MELVILLE 


shire  to  subscribe  a  signature,  or  the  copy  wherein  the  road  of 
Ruthven  was  allowed  for  good  service,  and  to  be  ready  to  defend 
the  same.  I  declared  also  unto  his  Majesty,  that  there  was  a 
common  clause  contained  in  all  remissions  ;  to  wit,  '  Except  the 
laying  hands  upon  the  King's  person  '  ;  so  that  how  little  secured 
they  were  by  their  present  remissions,  his  Majesty  might  easily 
judge.  He  answered,  That  seldom  or  never  was  any  remissions 
seen  broken,  and  wondred  what  made  me  think  or  speak  contrary 
to  the  rest  of  the  council.  I  said,  If  I  had  always  spoken  as  the 
rest,  I  had  not  been  put  off  the  council  by  the  earl  of  Arran,  whose 
qualities  I  had  before  described  unto  his  Majesty,  and  what  in- 
superable inconveniencies  would  attend  his  being  again  brought 
into  court.  I  requested  his  Majesty  for  his  own  weal,  to  send 
him  home  to  his  own  house  :  for  by  his  underhand  dealing,  I 
understood  that  his  convention  would  shortly  bring  on  new 
desperate  enterprizes.  His  Majesty  said.  That  I  was  in  the 
wrong  to  the  earl  of  Arran,  and  that  there  would  never  be  more 
desperate  enterprizes.  I  affirmed  that  there  would  be  continually, 
ay  and  while  the  lords  who  were  in  despair  might  mend  them- 
selves, or  find  themselves  in  a  better  security.  I  said  moreover 
to  his  Majesty,  That  the  earl  of  Arran  would  yet  again  put  his 
person  and  crown  in  hazard  ;  so  that  his  Majesty  left  me  in  anger. 
And  yet  he  turned  about  again,  and  asked  who  shall  then  remain 
about  me,  if  I  put  away  the  earl  of  Arran  ?  I  answered.  Who 
but  your  ancient  nobility,  the  earls  of  March,  Argile,  Eglington, 
Montrose,  Marischal,  Rothes,  Huntly,  and  Crawford,  with  some 
ministers  and  barons,  known  not  to  be  factious.  But  so  many 
of  the  noblemen,  and  of  their  friends  as  were  yet  remaining  within 
the  country,  after  they  had  heard  of  their  remissions,  they  com- 
bined together  and  gained  divers  lords  who  were  about  his  Majesty, 
to  make  a  new  enterprize,  and  were  minded  to  slay  the  earl  of 
Arran,  colonel  Stuart,  and  some  others  that  were  about  his  Majesty, 
■whom  they  knew  to  have  been  most  instrumental  in  carrying  on 
this  design,  though  it  should  be  in  his  Majesty's  presence,  and  that 
way  to  become  masters  again  of  the  court.  Whereof  I  not  only 
was  advertised  by  some,  to  whom  I  had  formerly  done  kindness, 
but  I  was  advised  to  absent  myself  from  court  four  or  five  days, 
till  the  first  fury  of  the  alteration  was  over  :  for  the  earl  of  Arran's 
hatied  to  me  procured  me  many  friends.  I  again,  to  save  his 
Majesty  from  peril  and  dishonour,  thought  it  my  duty  to  advertise 
him,  intreating  him  to  send  home  the  said  earl.  I  cannot  tell 
what  moved  the  earl,  but  that  same  night  he  invited  me  to  supper, 
which  I  refused.  The  next  day  again  he  took  me  by  the  hand 
before  his  Majesty,  saying.  That  I  should  dine  with  him  in  his 
Majesty's  presence.  He  shewed  me  a  very  favourable  coun- 
tenance ;  for  the  King  had  forbidden  him  to  offend  me  in  any 
sort,  as  he  would  retain  his  favour.  If  he  had  got  any  word  of 
my  contrary  opinion  to  his,  I  cannot  tell,  or  that  I  had  desired 
him  to  be  sent  home  ;   but  there  was  some  appearance  of  this  by 

171 


THE  MEMOIRS  OF 


his  behaviour  and  passionate  speeches  unto  me,  soon  after  that 
I  had  told  my  judgment  unto  his  Majesty,  as  men  may  judge. 
For  leading  me  by  the  hand  to  dine  with  him  in  his  Majesty's 
presence,  which  I  could  not  evite,  before  we  did  sit  down  to 
dinner,  he  asked  me  how  all  would  be  ?  I  told  him  very  freely 
all  I  had  spoken  unto  his  Majesty.  Then,  said  he.  You  would 
place  about  his  Majesty  the  earl  of  March,  who  is  a  fool,  guided 
by  the  laird  of  Compte  and  Robert  Shives.  I  said.  He  behoved 
to  be  one  with  the  rest  of  the  noblemen  already  named.  He  said, 
It  should  pass  my  power  or  any  man's,  to  cause  him  leave  his 
Majesty  so  long  as  he  was  in  such  danger.  I  answered,  That  the 
King  was  in  danger  for  no  other  cause,  but  because  he  was  with 
him.  I  perceived  he  entertained  a  great  discontent  at  me  in  his 
heart,  which  burst  out  afterward,  threatening  to  put  me  out  of  the 
gates,  if  I  fished  any  more  in  his  waters.  I  answered.  If  I  pleased 
to  tarry,  it  would  pass  his  power,  seeing  I  would  get  more  honest 
men  to  take  my  part  than  he  would  get  throat-cutters  to  assist  him. 
So  soon  as  his  Majesty  heard  of  this  language,  he  sent  the  earl's 
uncle  the  laird  of  Caprinton,  to  reprove  him  very  sharply.  Where- 
upon he  retired  in  great  discontent  to  the  castle  of  Edinburgh, 
whereof  he  was  captain,  declaring  he  would  not  come  near  his 
Majesty,  till  I  was  sent  home,  to  give  him  place,  which  I  perceived 
his  Majesty  was  satisfied  I  should  do  to  please  him.  For  his  wife 
came  daily  to  his  Majesty,  and  said.  That  her  husband  was  highly 
discontent,  finding  his  Majesty  to  take  my  part  against  him. 
Whereupon  I  resolved  to  retire.  At  my  leave-taking  his  Majesty 
said.  He  doubted  not  but  I  would  return  when  called  for.  By 
which  I  understood,  that  I  should  not  come  back  till  sent  for. 
W^hich  suited  very  well  with  my  former  intentions,  being  resolved 
to  attend  no  longer  than  the  foresaid  convention  was  ended. 

Now  the  earl  of  Arran  triumphed,  being  chancellor,  and  captain 
of  the  castles  of  Edinburgh  and  Stirling.  He  made  the  whole 
subjects  to  tremble  under  him,  and  every  man  to  depend  upon 
him  daily  inventing  and  seeking  out  new  faults  against  divers, 
to  get  the  gift  of  their  escheats,  lands,  benefices,  and  to  procure 
bribes.  He  vexed  the  whole  writers  to  make  sure  his  gifts.  Those 
of  the  nobility  who  were  now  unsure  of  their  estates,  fled  ;  others 
were  banished.  He  shot  directly  at  the  life  and  lands  of  the  earl 
of  Gowrie  :  for  the  highland  oracles  had  shewn  unto  his  wife, 
that  Gowrie  should  be  ruined,  as  she  told  to  some  of  her  familiars. 
But  she  helped  that  prophecy  forward  as  well  as  she  could  :  for 
Gowrie  had  been  his  first  master,  and  despited  his  insolent  pride, 
oppression  and  misbehaviour  plainly  in  council,  which  few  others 
durst  do  ;  therefore  he  hated  his  person,  and  loved  his  lands, 
which  at  length  he  obtained. 

For  Gowrie  being  unable  to  be  a  witness  of  the  oppression 
of  his  country,  obtained  his  Majesty's  consent  to  go  out  of  the 
country.  But  as  he  was  making  his  preparations  too  longsomly 
and  slowly  in  Dundee  (as  he  was  of  nature  over  slow)  where  his 

172 


SIR  JAMES  MELVILLE 


ship  was  to  receive  him,  he  was  advertised  by  some  factioners, 
that  the  earls  of  Angus,  Mar,  and  master  of  Glammis,  had  an 
enterprize  in  hand,  viz.  To  come  out  of  Ireland,  and  take  tlie  town 
and  castle  of  Stirling  ;  having  correspondence  with  divers  nobles 
and  others  their  friends,  who  were  in  the  country,  male- 
contents,  so  that  they  were  in  hope  to  make  a  party  sufficient 
against  the  earl  of  Arran. 

The  despite  the  earl  of  Gowrie  had  against  the  earl  of  Arran 
moved  him  to  stay  to  make  part  with  them.  There  was  at  this 
time  an  universal  miscontent  in  the  country,  and  great  bruits  of 
an  alteration.  Whereupon  a  letter  was  written  to  me  by  colonel 
Stuart,  at  his  Majesty's  command,  ordaining  me  with  all  diligence 
to  repair  to  court  ;  or,  in  case  I  was  not  recovered  of  my  ague, 
whereof  I  had  been  long  sick,  that  I  might  write  my  mind  and 
opinion  to  his  Majest\'  in  a  letter,  what  was  lilve  to  fall  out  con- 
cerning the  great  rumour  and  bruits  of  an  apparent  alteration. 
And,  being  by  reason  of  my  foresaid  distemper  unable  for  travel, 
I  sent  my  return  in  writing,  shewing  his  Majesty,  That  there  was 
an  universal  miscontent,  with  great  bruits,  not  without  appearance 
of  probability  of  a  sudden  change,  occasioned  by  the  misbehaviour 
of  such  as  were  managers  st  court,  and  by  the  great  straits  and 
desperate  estate  of  those  who  were  pursued,  being  men  of  quality, 
active  and  experienced  ;  and  a  greater  number  than  could  be 
born  down  or  mastered,  as  I  had  frequently  shewed  his  Majesty 
before,  without  respect  of  feud  or  favour,  but  simply  for  his 
Majesty's  service  :  intreating  his  Majesty  again  to  set  forward  his 
former  acceptable  intentions,  which  he  had  resolved  to  do  when 
he  went  to  St,  Andrew's  ;  seeing  there  was  no  other  course 
advisable  for  settling  his  troubled  estate.  This  kind  of  language 
v/as  the  better  liked,  because  of  so  many  advertisements  that  came 
daily  to  his  Majesty's  ears. 

These  bruits  made  his  Majesty  be  upon  his  guard,  and  to  use 
means  to  get  intelligence.  The  lingering  of  the  earl  of  Gowrie 
in  Dundee  gave  ground  of  suspicion.  His  Majesty  had  also  been 
advertised.  That  he  had  laid  aside  his  intentions  of  going  abroad, 
according  to  his  former  resolutions,  and  that  he  was  designed  to 
wait  upon  the  in-coming  of  the  banished  lords.  His  Majesty  also 
dreamed  a  dream,  That  he  saw  the  earl  of  Gowrie  taken,  and 
brought  in  prisoner  before  him  by  colonel  Stuart  ;  and  he  thought 
his  estate  was  thereby  settled  :  which  indeed  for  that  time  came 
true,  because  the  lords  who  had  taken  Stirling,  so  soon  as  they 
understood  of  the  taking  of  the  earl  of  Gowrie,  fled  incontinently 
out  of  Stirling,  and  at  last  out  of  the  country,  believing  that  the 
said  earl  had  been  taken  willingly  ;  supposing  his  affection  to 
have  been  so  great  to  his  Majesty,  as  being  his  near  kinsman, 
come  of  the  house  of  Angus,  his  mother  being  a  natural  daughter 
of  the  said  house,  that  he  would  be  thereby  induced  to  discover 
the  whole  design  ;  he  not  having  been  upon  the  first  design  of  any 
enterprize,  but  drawn  in  afterwards  by  the  craftiness  of  others. 

N  173 


THE  MEMOIRS  OF 


Upon  these  considerations,  his  Majesty  had  compassion  upon 
him,  and  had  no  intention  of  taking  his  life.  But  the  earl  of  Arran 
was  fully  resolved  to  have  his  lands  ;  and  therefore,  to  make  a 
party  to  assist  him  in  that  design,  he  engaged  to  divide  them  with 
several  others,  upon  condition  that  they  would  assist  him  in  the 
design  of  ruining  him.  Which  afterv^'ards  he  did,  having  by 
this  means  procured  their  consent  and  votes.  At  his  death  upon 
the  scaffold,  he  shewed  himself  a  devout  christian,  and  a  resolute 
Roman,  much  regretted  by  all  who  heard  his  grave  harangue, 
and  did  see  his  constant  end. 

After  his  death,  there  was  quietness  for  a  while,  though  without 
appearance  of  long  continuance  to  such  as  took  up  matters  right. 
During  this  little  while  of  fair  weather,  there  was  a  parliament 
held  to  forfault  the  banished  lords,  wherein  these  were  chiefly 
instruniental,  who  hoped  to  raise  their  particular  fortunes  upon 
the  ruin  of  their  neighbours. 

Among  others,  it  pleased  his  Majesty  to  write  for  me.  I  was 
by  him  graciously  receiv'd  ;  and,  remembring  some  of  my 
speeches,  he  took  me  into  his  cabinet,  and  enquir'd  how  I  now 
relished  his  proceedings.  I  answered,  that  he  had  reason  to 
thank  God,  and  no  good  management  ;  and  that  I  was  assured 
there  would  be  yet  more  enterprizes  ;  that  they  who  took  Stirling, 
and  had  retired  again,  would  never  cease  to  make  enterprize  upon 
enterprize,  till  they  might  see  themselves  in  a  better  security. 
His  Majesty  replied,  that  they  had  gained  so  little  by  their  last 
in-coming,  that  he  believed  they  would  never  commit  such  a  folly 
again.  I  answered,  that  had  not  the  accidental  taking  of  the 
earl  of  Gowrie  fallen  out,  their  enterprize  would  have  been  more 
successful  ;  for  they  suspected  he  was  taken  bj'  his  own  desire 
to  bewray  their  enterprize  :  that  otherwise  they  had  gained  their 
intent,  seeing  some,  who  were  then  about  his  Majesty,  would 
have  concurred  with  them  to  lay  aside  the  earl  of  Arran,  whom 
they  assisted  for  awe,  and  not  for  love,  they  hating  his  insolency, 
and  seeing  no  outgate  how  to  stand  by  him  ;  and  that  there  had 
for  that  effect  been  secret  promises  made  to  them,  by  instruments 
who  went  betwixt  them  :  but  seeing  the  earl  of  Gowrie  in  hands, 
and  the  said  lords  thereby  so  discouraged  as  to  fly  away,  such 
as  had  made  the  said  secret  promises  took  up  a  new  deliberation, 
shewing  themselves  their  greatest  enemies  ;  while  in  the  mean 
time  they  but  waited  an  opportunity  of  advancing  their  intentions. 

About  this  time  the  lord  Burleigh,  chief  ruler  in  England, 
caused  send  in  one  Mr.  Davison  to  be  an  agent  here,  to  see  what 
business  he  could  brew,  who  was  afterwards  made  secretary. 
For  after  the  decease  of  Walsingham,  secretary  Cecil  being 
advanced  to  be  lord  Burleigh,  and  great  treasurer  of  England,  two 
secretaries  were  chosen,  one  called  Mr.  Smith,  and  this  Davison, 
whose  predecessor  was  a  Scotsman.  Upon  which  consideration, 
he  was  thought  more  able  to  conquer  credit  here.  He  had  been 
in  Scotland  before,  and  was  at  my  house,  in  company  with  Sir 

174 


SIR  JAMES  MELVILLE 


Henry  Killegrew  my  old  friend,  when  he  was  resident  in  Scotland. 
At  which  time  he  acknowledged  to  me,  that  he  was  come  of 
Scotsmen,  and  was  a  Scotsman  in  his  heart,  and  a  favourer  of  the 
King's  right  and  title  to  the  crown  of  England.  He  desired  me  to 
keep  all  secret  from  Mr.  Killegrew,  promising,  if  he  could  find 
the  means  to  be  employed  here,  that  he  would  do  good  offices. 

His  Majesty  was  for  the  time  at  Falkland,  and  wrote  for  me, 
to  be  directed  to  ride  and  meet  the  said  Davison  :  whom  I  w'as 
commanded  to  convoy  to  Cowpar,  there  to  remain  till  his  Majesty 
had  time  to  give  him  audience.  Afterward  I  convoyed  him  to  my 
own  house,  and  from  that  to  Falkland,  where  his  Majesty  found  his 
commission  to  small  avail.  But  because  Walsingham  had  refused, 
at  his  being  here,  to  speak  with  the  earl  of  Arran,  albeit  the  said 
earl  had  offered  by  me  to  give  satisfaction  to  him  in  all  his  desires, 
so  that  he  would  confer  with  him  (which  Walsingham  still  refused) 
but  Mr.  Davison  was  directed  at  this  time  to  deal  with  the  earl  of 
Arran,  to  see  what  advantage  might  be  had  at  his  hand  ;  for  my 
lord  Burleigh  was  not  content  that  Walsingham  was  so  precise. 
Therefore  Davison  entred  into  familiarity  with  him,  and  was 
made  his  gossip,  and  heard  his  frank  offers,  and  liked  well  of 
them  :  for  after  that  the  lords  were  fled  to  England,  and  forfaulted, 
the  council  of  England  thought  they  had  some  ground  to  build  a 
new  faction  upon,  to  trouble  the  King  and  his  estate.  And 
whereas  the  said  Davison  had  promised  before  to  shew  himself  a 
kind  Scotsman,  I  perceived  him  clean  altered,  and  a  perfect 
practiser  against  the  quiet  of  this  state  ;  whereof  I  advertised  his 
Alajesty. 

After  his  return,  England  appeared  not  to  have  such  a  fear, 
as  it  had  formerly  had  at  the  earl  of  Arran.  For  there  was  a 
meeting  drawn  on  at  the  borders,  betwixt  the  earl  of  Hunsdon 
and  the  earl  of  Arran,  who  had  long  and  privy  conference  together, 
to  keep  a  great  friendship  betwixt  the  two  princes  and  countries  ; 
with  a  secret  plot,  that  the  earl  of  Arran  should  keep  the  King 
unniarried  for  three  years,  under  this  pretext,  that  there  was  a 
young  maid  of  the  blood  in  England,  who  about  that  time  would 
be  ready  for  marriage  ;  whereupon  the  Queen  would  declare' 
his  Majesty  second  person. 

This  was  a  deceitful  traffick,  and  kept  secret  from  every  body, 
the  design  thereof  being  to  hinder  the  King  to  deal  for  any  other 
honourable  and  profitable  match.  The  earl  of  Arran  thinking 
himself  settled,  being  now  in  friendship  with  the  Queen  of 
England,  as  he  supposed,  moved  his  Majesty  to  send  thither 
the  master  of  Gray,  who  was  entred  in  great  favour  and  familiarity 
with  his  Majesty  by  some  secret  dealing  and  intelligence  he  had 
with  the  Queen  his  mother  in  England,  by  means  of  some  of  her 
friends  in  France.  For  being  there  at  his  travels,  and  but  lately 
returned,  he  brought  some  letters  directed  from  her  Majesty  to 
the  King  her  son,  and  conveyed  the  answers  back  again,  by  an 
interest  he  had  in  England  with  some  who  favoured  her  Majesty. 

175 


THE  MEMOIRS  OF 


He  was  a  great  dealer  also  between  her  Majesty  and  some 
catholicks  in  England,  He  was  a  proper  gentleman,  of  a  noble 
spirit,  and  fair  speech,  and  so  well  esteemed  by  his  Majesty,  that 
Arran  thought  fit  to  absent  him  from  court  by  this  ambassage. 
Nevertheless  he  employed  him  also  in  the  course  begun  betwixt 
him  and  the  earl  of  Hunsdon.  And  yet  when  he  was  at  the  court 
of  England,  so  well  esteemed  and  treated,  as  was  reported  by  such 
as  were  sent  back,  it  was  alledged  by  some  of  the  master  of  Gray's 
friends,  that  the  earl  of  Arran  began  to  envy  him,  and  misrepresent 
him  unto  his  Majesty,  as  if  he  had  discovered  unto  the  Queen  of 
England  a  great  part  of  the  Queen  of  Scotland's  purposes  and 
proceedings.  However  the  said  master  returned  again  well 
rewarded,  and  commended  for  his  behaviour,  qualities  and  dis- 
cretion, unto  the  King's  Majesty,  to  the  great  increase  of  his  credit 
with  the  King.  Not  long  after  his  return,  he  was  informed  what 
misreports  had  been  made  of  him  in  his  absence  :  Which  he 
recompensed  the  best  he  could  with  court  charity  at  convenient 
times,  so  that  by  little  and  little  he  began  to  echpse  Arran. 

The  master  of  Gray  also  forwarned  his  Majesty  of  a  notable 
person  who  was  upon  the  way,  sent  unto  his  Majesty  by  the  Queen 
of  England,  to  do  him  honour,  and  to  bear  him  company,  to 
entertain  a  stricter  friendship  between  that  Queen  and  him,  than 
any  had  ever  been  intended  before  :  and  that  the  said  ambassador, 
called  Mr.  Wotton,  would  not  trouble  his  Majesty  with  business 
or  country  affairs,  but  would  bear  him  company  in  his  pastimes 
of  hunting,  hawking  and  horse-riding,  and  entertain  him  with 
friendly  and  merry  discourses,  as  one  come  lately  from  Italy  and 
Spain,  expert  in  languages  and  customes  of  countries  ;  and  a 
great  lover  of  his  Majesty's  title  and  right  to  the  crown  of  England. 
So  that  his  Majesty  was  engaged  to  love  him  before  he  did  see  him, 
and  caused  with  diligence  to  write  to  me  to  come  and  entertain 
the  said  ambassador. 

At  my  return  to  court,  I  was  the  better  taken  with,  that  Arran 
was  imder  some  cloud.  The  master  of  Gray  was  then  my  great 
friend  :  for  his  Majesty  had  told  him,  that  I  had  ever  resisted  the 
earl  of  Arran's  furious  proceedings.  His  Majesty  desired  me, 
as  I  would  do  him  acceptable  service,  to  bear  good  company  to 
the  said  ambassador,  declaring  unto  me  all  his  properties  and 
qualifications  above  specified  ;  willing  me  also  to  banquet  him 
at  my  house.  But  after  I  had  conversed  certain  days  with  him, 
I  remembred  I  had  formerly  seen  him  in  France  with  Dr.  Wotton, 
who  was  then  ambassador  resident  for  Queen  Mary  of  England, 
the  time  that  she  was  married  with  King  Philip  of  Spain.  During 
which  time,  there  were  great  suspicions  and  jealousies  betwixt 
France  and  England.  For  though  there  was  hot  war  between 
France  and  Spain,  yet  the  peace  continued  still  with  the  Queen 
of  England,  who  was  lately  married  by  the  King  of  Spain.  She 
appeared  still  to  keep  the  peace  with  France,  though  in  the  mean 
time  she  sent  over  to  Flanders  both  men  and  money,  to  the  help 

176 


SIR  JAMES  MELVILLE 


K 


of  the  King  her  husband.  The  old  constable  of  France,  mj 
master,  who  for  the  time  had  the  whole  management  of  the 
country  affairs  under  King  Henry  II.  reproached  the  English 
ambassador,  for  that  the  Queen  his  mistress  was  doing  her  en- 
deavour to  break  the  peace.  The  ambassador  excused  his  mistress^ 
alledging,  that  if  any  of  his  countrj'men  served  in  the  wars  under 
the  King  of  Spain,  that  they  would  be  found  but  soldiers  of  fortune, 
ready  to  serve  any  man  for  money.  She  denied  that  she  knew 
of  their  passing  into  Flanders,  or  that  she  debursed  any  money  for 
the  wars  ;  albeit  that  there  was  ground  enough  ministred  unto 
her,  by  receiving  and  retaining  in  France  all  her  rebels  and 
fugitives,  giving  them  pensions  and  entertainment,  and  stirring 
them  up  to  enterprizes  against  her  life  and  estate.  This  the 
constable  flatly  denied  ;  only  he  said,  that  out  of  a  general  good- 
will which  was  bom  to  Englishmen  in  time  of  peace,  they  were 
suffered  to  live  in  the  country  which  bears  the  name  of  France, 
because  there  should  be  freedom  and  franchize  to  everj'  christian. 
The  ambassador  being  wise  and  subtle,  perceiving  this  answer 
to  be  but  a  shift,  and  that  wars  would  inevitably  follow  these  kind 
cf  suspicions  ;  he  intended  by  some  subtilty  to  circumvent  the 
constable,  and  for  that  effect  had  sent  to  England  for  his  brother's 
son,  being  one  and  twenty  years  of  age,  as  well  to  employ  him  as 
to  teach  him  the  French  and  Italian  languages.  This  youth  being 
arrived  in  France  with  an  Irish  boy  to  be  his  interpreter,  who 
could  speak  French,  both  apparelled  in  mean  array,  to  be  the  less 
suspected  to  have  any  practice  or  policy  in  their  minds  ;  like  a 
foreign  young  man  he  addressed  himself  to  some  of  the  King 
of  France  his  courtiers,  desiring  audience  of  his  Alajesty  secretly, 
as  having  a  matter  of  great  importance  to  propose.  The  King 
again  divers  times  directed  him  to  deal  first  with  the  constable. 
At  last  when  he  came  to  the  constable,  he  desired  also  of  him,  that 
he  might  first  declare  unto  the  King  his  errand,  which  was  of 
great  importance,  although  he  Imew  that  the  King  spoke  with  no 
roan  in  such  matters,  until  the  constable  had  first  soundevi  him, 
and  then  told  his  opinion  to  the  King,  what  answer  were  fittest 
to  make.  At  length  he  said,  He  would  declare  the  matter  unto 
the  constable,  under  promise  of  great  secrecy,  causing  the  con- 
stable by  this  niceness  to  suspect  some  practice.  When  he  gave 
him  audience,  he  caused  me  to  be  present  beside  him.  At  their 
meeting  in  the  constable's  cabinet  ;  his  Irish  interpreter  was  put 
forth,  against  his  will,  as  appf'ared.  But  he  was  so  instructed 
by  the  ambassador  his  uncle,  to  use  such  foreign  and  rude  fashions. 
Yet  again  ere  he  began  to  propose  his  errand,  he  desired  secrecy. 
The  constable  being  an  old,  wise,  experimented  counsellor,  put 
him  a  little  aside,  and  rounded  in  my  ear,  to  know  if  ever  I  had 
seen  this  young  man  before.  I  answered,  that  I  had  observed 
him  the  preceding  day  at  long  conference  with  one  Mr. 
Sommer,  secretary  to  the  English  ambassador.  Then  the  con- 
stable thought,  that  he  should  handle  the  matter  well  enough  ; 

177 


THE  MEMOIRS  OF 


for  he  instantly  conjectured  that  all  this  niceness  proceeded  from 
the  ambassador,  to  intrap  him.  So  calling  the  young  man  again, 
he  desired  him  to  shew  what  he  had  to  say.  Mr.  Wotton  began  to 
declare  the  great  miscontentment  that  was  in  England,  not  only 
for  bringing  in  the  proud  Spaniard  to  rule  over  them,  but  also  for 
the  alteration  of  religion  made  by  Queen  Mary,  moving  some 
to  rebel,  and  others  to  remove  off  the  country,  who  nevertheless 
were  all  well  received  and  treated  by  the  King's  Majesty  of 
France,  whereby  he  had  gained  the  hearts  of  the  third  part  of 
England  so  devoutly  towards  him,  that  they  would  gladly  put  the 
crown  of  England  on  his  head,  (getting  liberty  in  religion)  to  be 
quit  of  the  Spanish  tyranny  and  terrible  inquisition,  which  was 
feared  would  also  be  established  in  England.  And  for  the  first 
proof  of  their  good  will  and  gratitude,  a  number  of  lords  and 
knights,  who  durst  not  write,  had  sent  him  secretly  with  an  over- 
ture to  put  the  strong  town  of  Calais  into  his  hands,  with  the  whole 
earldom  of  Oye.  At  this  the  constable  made  a  start,  and  said, 
Know  you  not,  my  friend,  that  there  is  a  sworn  peace  betwixt 
your  Queen  and  my  master  ?  The  other  replied  again,  how  that 
the  Queen  of  England  aided  secretly,  with  money  and  men,  the 
King  of  Spain  her  husband,  in  his  wars  of  Flanders  against  France  : 
which  the  constable  alledged,  that  she  denied  by  her  ambassador, 
willing  him,  however,  to  tell  out  the  rest  of  his  commission. 
Then,  said  he,  My  lord,  the  means  how  you  may  get  Calais,  is  this. 
First,  The  most  part  of  the  town  is  of  the  reformed  religion,  and 
are  malecontents,  having  refused  to  receive  a  garrison  of  Spaniards. 
And  they  are  friends  to  those  who  have  sent  me,  and  keep  cor- 
respondence with  them  ;  only  the  township  keeps  the  town, 
keeping  watch  and  ward,  being  unskilful  in  handling  their  arms. 
Therefore  the  King  shall  cause  Monsieur  Senarpon,  his  lieutenant 
in  Normandy,  to  ly  in  ambuscade  at  such  a  wood,  within  a  mile 
and  an  half  of  the  town,  at  an  appointed  day  ;  then  a  ship  well 
furnished  with  armed  men  shall  ly  at  anchor  half  a  mile  from  th 
town  ;  and  some  of  them,  clothed  like  mariners,  shall  come  on 
land,  and  have  swords  and  pistols  under  their  clothes,  and  shall 
wait  about  two  of  the  afternoon,  at  which  time  the  ports  of  the 
town  are  opened  to  let  men  in  and  out.  Part  of  those  who  attend 
the  ports,  will  be  at  their  dinner,  when  one  or  two  will  come  before 
the  rest  to  open  the  gates.  Thus  the  gates  being  easily  seized 
upon,  let  one  of  the  company  shoot  off  a  culverin,  that  the  ship 
may  hear,  and  shoot  a  cannon  to  cause  Monsieur  Senarpon  with 
his  company  advance.  In  the  mean  time,  there  shall  be  a  mutiny 
raised  in  the  town  by  our  friends  and  partners,  so  that  the  town 
shall  be  obtained  without  stroke. 

After  that  the  constable  had  heard  all  this  long  discourse,  he 
said.  That  it  was  a  very  probable  design,  and  he  doubted  not  but 
it  might  be  easily  effectuated  ;  but  in  respect  of  the  sworn  peace, 
the  King  his  master  would  not,  nor  should  never  have  his  consent 
to  break  it  :  but  that  he  was  much  engaged  to  the  noblemen  who 

178 


SIR  JAMES  MELVILLE 


did  bear  him  so  much  good-will  ;  and  as  for  him  who  had  taken 
so  great  pains,  the  King  should  reward  him,  willing  me  to 
remember  to  cause  give  money  to  the  young  gentleman.  So  he 
gained  nothing  at  the  constable's  hand,  and  never  came  again  to 
seek  his  reward  ;  but  was  afterwards  manifestly  known  to  be 
brother's  son  to  Dr.  Wotton  ambassador,  as  said  is. 

This  is  he  now  who  was  sent  hither  to  bear  his  Majesty  company, 
as  one  who  will  not  meddle  with  practices,  but  with  pastimes. 
But  when  I  forewarned  his  Majesty  to  beware  of  him,  and  told 
how  that  he,  being  little  above  twenty  years  old,  was  employed 
to  beguile  the  wise  old  constable  ;  now  he  was  fifty  years,  and  his 
Majesty  but  twenty,  it  was  to  be  feared  he  would  endeavour  to 
beguile  him  :  yet  his  Majesty  would  not  believe  me,  but  believed 
the  said  Mr.  Wotton  to  have  a  great  kindness  for  him,  and  so  he 
became  one  of  his  most  familiar  minions,  waiting  upon  him  at  all- 
field  pastimes  ;  and  in  appearance  he  despised  all  busy  counsellors, 
and  meddlers  in  matters  of  state,  as  he  was  instructed  by  such  as 
said,  he  would  please  his  Majesty  best  to  appear  such.  But  he 
had  more  hurtful  fetches  in  his  head  against  his  Majesty,  than  any 
Englishman  that  ever  came  in  hither  had  at  any  time  before. 

You  have  heard  before  of  a  meeting  that  was  drawn  on  at  the 
borders,  betwixt  the  earl  of  Hunsdon  and  Arran  ;  where  at  their 
secret  conference,  Arran  was  required,  by  the  craft  of  the  lord 
Burleigh  and  his  faction  in  the  English  council,  to  stop  the  King 
from  any  marriage  for  three  years,  upon  many  fair  counterfeited 
promises  ;  one  whereof  was.  That  he  should  be  declared  second 
person,  upon  his  marriage  of  the  forenamed  English  lady  of  the 
blood.  At  which  Arran  granted  all  that  was  desired,  he  was  so 
glad  to  procure  the  Queen  of  England's  friendship.  About  that 
time  the  Queen  of  England,  by  her  intelligence  from  Denmark, 
was  advertised  of  a  great  and  magnifick  ambassage  to  be  sent  from 
Denmark  to  Scotland,  viz.  three  ambassadors,  with  sixscore 
persons,  in  two  gallant  ships.  Whether  she  suspected,  or  had 
heard,  that  it  was  to  draw  on  a  marriage,  I  cannot  tell  :  but  this 
far  I  learned,  that  her  council  judged  it  was  to  confirm  at  least  a 
greater  friendship  betwixt  the  two  Kings  and  their  countries, 
which  was  one  of  the  causes  that  moved  them  to  send  this  Mr. 
Wotton  to  Scotland,  to  use  all  his  wiles  to  disturb  and  hinder 
any  greater  amity,  that  might  proceed  from  the  said  commission 
and  negotiation  between  their  two  Kings  and  their  countries. 
For  England  trusted  nothing  to  the  earl  of  Arian's  promise  ; 
for  they  esteemed  him  as  an  inconstant  man,  as  is  already  declared. 

So  soon  as  the  Danish  ambassadors  arrived  by  ship  in  this 
country,  his  Majesty  ordered  me  to  entertain  them  and  bear  them 
company.  And  because  they  were  three  joined  in  commission, 
he  willed  me  to  chuse  any  other  two  whom  I  thought  meetest, 
to  bear  them  company  with  me.  I  named  unto  his  Majesty  the 
laird  of  Segie,  and  William  Shaw  master  of  Work. 

First,  at  Dunfermling  they  congratulated  his  Majesty  in  the 

179 


THE  MEMOIRS  OF 


King  their  master's  name,  with  a  long  discourse  of  the  old  amity, 
bond,  and  mutual  friendship  between  the  two  Kings  and  their 
kingdoms.  And  last  of  all,  they  required  the  isles  of  Orkney  to 
be  restored  again  to  the  crown  of  Denmark,  alledging  they  were 
mortgaged,  to  be  redeemed  again  for  the  sum  of  50,000  florins. 

Their  coming  and  demand  was  diversely  scanned  ;  some 
supposing  wars  would  ensue,  unless  the  said  isles  were  rendred  ; 
others  thought  that  their  intention  was  to  bring  on  a  marriage 
with  the  King  of  Denmark's  daughter. 

Now,  albeit  his  Majesty  was  determined  to  treat  them  well  and 
honourably,  they  were  nevertheless  mishandled,  ruffled,  and 
delayed  here  the  space  of  months,  to  their  great  charge 

and  discontent  :  for  they  lived  upon  their  own  expences,  and  were 
not  defrayed  by  his  Majesty,  as  all  other  ambassadors  of  that 
nation  have  been  since.  When  they  were  appointed  to  part  out 
of  Dunfermling  toward  St.  Andrew's,  there  to  get  their  dispatch, 
his  Majesty  ordered  to  tell  them.  That  he  would  send  them  horses 
out  of  his  own  stable  to  ride  upon.  The  day  of  their  parting  being 
come,  they  sent  away  their  baggage  and  officers  before  them,  and 
were  booted  themselves,  waiting  upon  his  Majesty's  horses  ;  and 
because  they  came  not  in  due  time,  they  went  forward  on  foot. 
The  King  was  much  dissatisfied  when  he  understood  how  they 
were  handled,  and  caused  his  horses  to  follow  fast  after  them,  and 
overtake  them.  When  they  came  to  St.  Andrew's,  divers 
appointed  days  of  council  and  convention  were  broken  unto 
them,  which  were  promised  to  be  kept  for  their  dispatch,  for 
obtaining  whereof  they  were  very  earnest.  Then  men  were 
appointed  to  deride  them  at  their  lodgings,  and  before  their 
windows  when  they  look'd  out  to  the  street.  So  that  nothing  was 
left  undone,  which  could  enrage  them  or  stir  them  up  to  choler. 
Only  Mr.  Wotton  the  English  ambassador  visited  them  frequently, 
and  did  well  and  favourably  entertain  them,  comforting  them  at 
all  occasions,  appearing  to  be  sorry  that  they  were  so  abused. 
He  off'ered  to  lend  them  gold  and  silver  largely,  for  the  great 
friendship  that  he  knew  to  be  between  the  Queen  his  mistress  and 
the  King  of  Denmark.  For  he  was  assured  of  good  payijient, 
and  thought  to  purchase  credit  at  their  hands  by  his  apparent 
friendly  dealing.  At  length,  under  great  secrecy  he  said  he  would 
not  conceal  from  them,  that  he  had  heard  the  King  speak  dis- 
dainful language  of  their  country  and  customs  ;  and  also.  That 
some  of  his  gentlemen  had  heard  the  King  speak  evil  of  their 
King,  undervaluing  him  as  being  descended  of  a  race  of  merchants 
And  he  further  assured  them.  That  he  and  his  council  were 
resolved  to  keep  them  long  here,  without  any  dispatch,  to  affront 
and  weary  them. 

Then  again  the  said  ambassador  and  two  of  his  gentlemen 
informed  his  Majesty  of  these  hard  speeches,  of  the  reproachful 
dealing  they  had  met  with  from  King  and  council,  reflecting  upon 
their  master.     He  informed  him  also  of  the  rude  manners  and 

180 


SIR  JAMES  MELVILLE 


drunkenness  of  those  that  were  about  his  Majesty^,  who  had  the 
like  scornful  language  of  the  King  of  Denmark,  his  country  and 
ambassadors,  moving  his  Majesty  to  make  the  less  of  them. 
Whereby  they  were  stirred  up  to  such  a  rage,  that  I  had  much  to 
do  to  keep  them  tsso  or  three  several  times  from  going  to  their 
ships,  to  have  returned  to  their  King  without  any  answer,  and  to 
have  given  him  an  account  of  the  disdainful  usage  they  had  met 
with,  and  the  injury  thereby  done  to  him.  The  earl  of  Arran  was 
also  their  great  enemy,  because  they  made  no  court  to  him,  but 
rather  slighted  him,  some  of  their  company  having  known  him 
in  Sweden  a  common  soldier.  So  that  he  was  as  ready  as  the 
rest  to  mock  and  deride  them  ;  albeit  at  that  same  time  the  ring- 
leaders about  the  court  were  combined  together  with  the  English 
ambassador  against  him. 

The  principal  of  the  three  ambassadors  was  a  wise,  grave  and 
ancient  counsellor.  The  second  was  furious  in  his  speeches. 
The  third  cried  out, '  The  King  our  master  is  affronted,  we  must 
be  revenged.' 

I  took  the  first  apart,  requesting  him  to  hear  me  patiently  ; 
for  he  spoke  good  Dutch,  but  mine  was  not  so  good.  Therefore 
I  desired  that  he  would  more  notice  my  meaning  than  my  words, 
and  be  more  careful  to  cause  his  friendly  commission  to  take 
effect,  that  he  might  return  home  with  happy  success,  than  to 
withdraw  abruptly,  to  be  called  unhappy  instruments  of  discord, 
at  the  pleasure  of  a  few  scornful  factioners,  who  had  laid  their 
heads  together  to  cause  them  part  dissatisfied,  and  to  be  as  instru- 
mental in  doing  evil  as  they  were  minded  at  their  coming  to  do 
good. 

I  told  him,  how  that  the  Queen's  Majesty  of  England  was  a 
wise,  well  inclined  and  politick  princess,  and  that  there  were  as 
many  honest  and  good  men  in  England,  as  in  so  much  bounds  in 
the  whole  world  ;  albeit  there  was  in  it  divers  opinions  and 
factions,  shooting  at  sundry  marks,  as  is  done  in  all  other  parts. 
And  because  that  their  Queen  would  never  marry,  to  have 
succession  of  her  own  body,  they  were  all  very  desirous  to  know 
who  after  her  should  reign  over  them. 

The  most  part  of  the  country  expects  that  it  shall  be  our  King, 
and  wisheth  his  welfare  and  prosperity,  as  being  righteous  heir 
to  the  crown  of  England,  both  by  the  father  and  mother's  side. 
But  those  who  at  present  have  a  chief  management  at  the  court, 
shoot  at  other  particular  marks  of  their  own,  minding  to  set 
forward  some  of  themselves  or  of  their  friends,  to  bruik  the 
kingdom.  And  for  that  cause,  they  make  all  the  opposition 
they  can  to  our  King,  because  of  their  unmerciful  dealing  to  his 
mother,  for  the  which  they  fear  some  day  to  be  punished,  when 
he  comes  to  be  King  of  England.  For  all  these  respects,  they 
endeavour  to  keep  him  from  marriage,  and  from  all  foreign 
friendship  and  alliance.  This  ambassador  of  England  is  a  very 
ill  instrument,  both  himself,  and  his  gentlemen  ;    and,  hunting 

i8i 


THE  MEMOIRS  OF 


daily  with  his  Majesty,  make  the  worst  reports  they  can.  The 
ambassador  of  Denmark  answered  to  that,  marvelhng  that  Mr. 
Wotton  should  make  such  report  of  them,  he  offering  them  so 
great  friendship,  and  giving  them  daily  intelligence  how  they  v/ere 
scorned  and  mocked,  both  by  the  King  and  his  council,  to  his  great 
regret,  offering  them  to  lend  them  money,  and  to  do  all  other 
pleasures  to  them  that  lay  in  his  power.  I  replied.  He  knew  well 
enough  that  he  would  get  good  payment,  and  great  thanks.  For 
the  King  of  Denmark  was  esteemed  a  worthy  prince,  and  his 
ambassadors  worthy  to  be  honoured  ;  but  the  guiders  of  the  court 
of  England  desire  not  that  our  King  should  think  or  esteem  so  of 
them,  wishing  him  to  have  but  few  friends  and  many  enemies. 
Then  I  assured  him.  That  the  King's  Majesty  and  all  his  subjects, 
except  some  that  were  corrupted  by  England,  were  determined 
to  entertain  and  increase  a  continual  friendship  Vvith  the  King  and 
country  of  Denmark  :  praying  their  wisdoms  courageously  to 
resist,  and  not  feebly  and  foolishly  to  give  place  to  the  sad  crafty 
practices  of  their  scornful  enviers,  by  retiring  abruptly,  thereby 
suffering  them.selves  to  be  made  evil  instruments,  directly  against 
their  own  intention  and  commission  ;  and  they  should  shortly 
see  good  success  to  follow  thereupon,  to  their  great  contentment  : 
promising  unto  them  for  my  part.  That  I  should  go  instantly  unto 
his  Majesty,  and,  with  all  hazard  that  might  be,  should  discover 
unto  him,  how  both  he  and  they  were  deceitfully  abused  by  the 
double  dealing  of  the  English  ambassador,  and  such  courtiers  as 
assisted  him. 

Upon  this  discourse  and  promise,  they  went  to  council  all  three 
together,  as  their  custom  was.  And  after  long  conference,  they 
gave  me  answer.  That  their  coming  was  for  to  do  good  offices. 
And  albeit  they  had  suffered  sundry  injuries,  they  would  be  sorry 
to  be  made  instruments  of  discord,  so  far  against  their  commission 
and  intention  ;  and  therefore  would  yet  stay  upon  hope  of  better 
handling,  and  upon  my  promise,  albeit  to  that  hour  few  or  none 
had  been  kept  to  them. 

After  this,  I  shewed  unto  his  Majesty  what  great  inconveniencies 
might  ensue  upon  the  long  delaying  and  ill  handling  of  the  Danish 
ambassadors  :  and  yet  that  I  marvelled  not  that  he  made  so  little 
account  of  them,  in  respect  of  the  great  care  and  fine  practices  that 
were  used  to  make  him  undervalue  them,  by  the  English 
ambassador  and  his  assistants,  who  had  his  Majesty's  ear  for 
the  time.  At  the  first  his  Majesty  was  impatient  to  hear  this 
language  spoken  of  persons  he  had  so  good  liking  of,  and  said. 
That  he  was  informed  that  the  King  of  Denmark  was  descended 
but  of  merchants,  and  that  few  made  account  of  him  or  his  country, 
but  such  as  spoke  the  Dutch  tongue.  For  this  was  put  in  his 
head  to  prevent  any  of  my  persuasions  in  their  favour,  lest  they 
should  get  place  or  credit.  I  answered,  That  neither  could  the 
King  of  France  or  Queen  of  England  speak  Dutch,  and  yet  they 
made  great  account  of  the  King  and  country  of  Denmark.    France 

182 


SIR  JAMES  MELVILLE 


having  their  ambassador  lying  there,  and  paying  yearly  to  the  King 
of  Denmark  a  great  sum  of  gold,  to  the  value  of  20,000  crowns. 
His  Majesty  said.  The  more  shame  was  his.  I  said.  Rather  to  the 
King  of  France,  who  must  buy  his  kindness.  Neither  could  the 
Queen  of  England,  said  I,  speak  Dutch  ;  yet  she  made  much 
account  of  the  King  and  country  of  Denmark,  and  durst  not 
offend  him,  nor  none  of  his  ships,  both  by  reason  of  the  straight 
passage  at  Elsonure,  and  also  because  he  had  great  ships  to  make 
himself  amends,  in  case  she  did  him  or  his  any  wrong.  I  said 
moreover,  That  whereas  it  hath  been  reported  to  your  Majesty, 
the  race  of  their  Kings  not  to  be  of  noble  and  royal  blood,  I  shall 
shew  your  Majesty  that  it  is  but  manifest  invention  to  cause  you 
to  despise  them.  For  this  late  King  Frederick  is  descended  of  an 
old  and  royal  stock,  to  wit,  Christianus  of  Denmark,  the  first  of 
that  name,  who  had  two  sons,  and  one  daughter  called  Margaret, 
married, into  Scotland  tc  James  III.  His  eldest  son  John  was 
King  after  liim.  His  second  son  Frederick  was  King  of  Norway 
and  duke  of  Holstein.  John  had  a  son  called  Christianus  H. 
also  King  of  Denmark,  who  married  Charles  V,  his  sister,  who 
did  bear  him  two  daughters  ;  whereof  the  eldest  was  given  in 
marriage  to  Frederick  elector  Palatine  ;  the  second  to  the  duke  of 
Milan,  and  afterward,  being  a  widow,  married  the  duke  of  Lorrain. 
Himself  was  taken  and  kept  in  prison  by  his  subjects,  for  some 
rigorous  execution  upon  his  barons,  and  his  father's  brother 
Frederick  was  made  King.  After  this  Frederick,  the  earl  of 
Altenbourgh  was  chosen  by  assistance  of  the  town  of  Lubeck  ; 
but  Christianus  HI.  son  to  the  said  Frederick,  put  him  out,  and 
conquered  the  kingdom.  ?severtheless  this  Christianus  being  a 
good  prince,  would  not  change  their  old  privileges,  but  caused 
himself  to  be  chosen,  and  likewise  his  son  Frederick,  in  his  time, 
to  reign  after  him  ;  who  is  now  present  King,  and  hath  sent  his 
honourable  ambassage  to  your  Majesty,  as  to  his  good  friend  and 
kinsman,  descended  of  the  kingly  race  of  Denmark.  And  whereas 
he  requires  again  the  isles  of  Orkney  ;  it  is  for  the  discharge  of 
his  oath,  because  every  King  of  Denmark,  at  his  election,  is  sv.'orn 
to  claim  again  the  said  isles,  which  he  hath  done  for  the  fashion, 
and  for  no  other  effect  but  to  draw  on  a  greater  familiarity'  and 
friendship.  Or  else  he  had  not  sent  so  honourable  a  company, 
but  rather  an  herald  of  arms,  if  he  had  been  earnestly  bent  either 
to  get  the  said  isles,  or  to  quarrel  about  them. 

After  that  his  Majesty  had  heard  this  discourse,  far  different 
to  his  former  informations,  he  was  exceeding  glad,  and  said,  He 
would  not  for  his  head  but  that  I  had  shewn  the  verity  unto  him. 
And  that  same  afternoon  he  sent  for  the  said  ambassadors,  and 
acquainted  them  how  near  allied  he  was  to  the  King  of  Denmark  : 
he  excused  their  long  delay,  and  promised  instantly  to  see  them 
dispatched  himself,  and  that  within  three  or  four  days  :  he  called 
for  wine,  and  did  drink  to  them,  and  sent  them  home  very  well 
content  and  satisfied  to  their  lodgings.     He  commanded  a  banquet 

183 


THE  MEMOIRS  OF 


to  be  prepared  for  them  ;  which  his  Majesty's  comptroller  and 
officers  were  quietlj'  forbidden  to  do,  alledging  the  scantness  of 
provisions  :  which  the  laird  of  Segie  and  I  perceiving,  we  dealt 
with  the  earl  of  March,  who  prepared  a  great  banquet  for  them  in 
his  Majesty's  name,  to  the  great  dissatisfaction  of  Mr.  Wotton  and 
his  partisans,  who  durst  not  appear.  And  though  they  would  not 
suffer  his  Majesty  to  be  present  at  the  banquet,  but  to  dine  in  his 
own  chamber  ;  yet  his  Majesty  being  informed  by  me  how  matters 
went,  he  rose  from  his  own  dinner,  and  went  to  the  banquet- 
house,  and  drank  to  the  King,  Queen,  and  ambassadors  of  Den- 
mark, and  so  contented  them.  And  he  caused  their  dispatch  to 
be  in  readiness,  conform  to  his  promise.  But  when  I  advertised 
his  Majesty,  that  there  was  no  present  prepared  for  to  reward 
them  withal,  he  was  wonderfully  troubled,  saying,  they  who  had 
the  management  of  his  affairs  were  resolved  to  affront  him. 

Now  at  this  time  was  the  earl  at  court,  not  so  much  in  favour 
as  formerly.  During  the  which  time  there  chanced  a  strange 
misrule  to  fall  out  at  a  day  of  meeting  upon  the  borders,  which 
was  set  between  the  two  wardens  ;  where  Sir  Francis  Russel 
upon  the  English  side  was  killed.  Whereupon  the  English 
embassador  took  occasion  to  lay  the  blame  upon  the  earl  of  Arran, 
alledging,  that  the  laird  of  Ferniherst,  who  was  warden  upon  the 
Scots  side,  had  married  the  earl  of  Arran's  brother's  daughter  ; 
and  that  the  said  earl  had  caused  the  slaughter  to  be  made,  that 
the  borders  might  break  loose.  In  this  complaint  the  said 
ambassador  was  well  assisted  by  the  master  of  Gray  and  his 
companions  ;  so  that  the  earl  of  Arran  was  commanded  to  ward 
within  the  castle  of  St.  Andrew's,  and  was  kept  strictly  there  three 
or  four  days  :  so  that  being  in  fear  of  his  life,  he  sent  for  colonel 
Stuart,  the  laird  of  Segie,  and  me,  and  lamented  to  us  his  hard 
handling,  purging  himself,  as  he  might  justly  do,  of  that  accident 
that  fell  out  upon  the  borders,  requesting  us  to  intercede  for  his 
liberty. 

He  declared  unto  us  a  secret  to  be  shewn  unto  his  Majesty, 
in  case  his  life  was  taken  from  him  ;  which  was,  a  proinise  made 
unto  the  Queen  of  England,  that  the  King  should  not  marry  with 
any  for  the  space  of  three  years,  whereof  I  have  formerly  made 
some  mention.  Nevertheless  he  forgot  not  to  travel  for  himself 
for  he  sent  his  brother  Sir  William  to  the  master  of  Gray  at  mid- 
night, promising  to  get  unto  him  the  abbay  of  Dunfermling,  so 
that  he  would  obtain  his  liberty  at  his  Majesty's  hand.  Which 
was  incontinently  granted,  and  also  the  said  benefice  disposed 
unto  the  said  master.  Whereupon  the  English  ambassador  was 
in  a  great  rage  at  the  master,  but  their  discord  was  afterward 
agreed.  Only  Mr.  John  Maitland  secretary  and  the  Justice- 
clerk,  and  the  earl  of  Arran,  were  ordered  to  retire  home  to  their 
houses.  But  before  Arran's  journey,  his  Majesty  was  informed 
to  desire  him,  with  all  possible  diligence,  to  lend  him  a  great  gold 
chain  which  he  had  got  from  Sir  James  Balfour,  which  weighed 

184 


SIR  JAMES  MELVILLE 


fifty-seven  crowns,  to  be  given  unto  the  Danish  ambassadors 
Which  if  he  had  refused  to  do  he  would  have  lost  his  Majesty, 
and  in  delivering  it  he  lost  the  chain. 

In  the  mean  time,  the  ambassadors  understanding  that  their 
dispatch  was  in  readiness,  took  their  leave  of  his  Majesty,  who  was 
also  ready  to  part  from  St.  Andrew's.  I  informed  his  Majesty 
not  to  deliver  them  the  dispatch,  because  the  chain  was  not  yet 
come  :  for  they  were  minded  incontinently  to  make  sail,  having 
stayed  so  long,  and  that  the  winter  season  was  at  hand  ;  albeit 
that  I  had  shewn  to  one  of  their  familiar  servants,  that  certain 
rewards  were  to  come  within  two  days,  praying  them  to  stay  so 
long.  Which  they  would  not  grant  to  do,  but  went  to  their  ships  : 
■whither  I  promised  to  bring  their  dispatch,  which  I  requested 
his  Majesty  to  cause  deliver  into  my  hand,  to  be  kept  till  the  chain 
should  come  ;  which  was  divided  in  three  parts,  for  it  was  large. 
When  I  came  to  their  ships,  they  were  going  to  supper.  Which 
being  done,  I  delivered  to  them  their  answer  in  writing,  with 
the  chains,  and  some  excuses  for  their  long  stay,  and  small 
reward.  So  they  parted  well  satisfied,  assuring  me  that  they 
would  be  good  instruments  of  amity  ;  albeit  by  the  harsh 
usage  they  had  first  met  with,  they  had  once  resolved  other- 
wise. They  were  not  commanded  to  speak  of  marriage,  whereof 
there  was  some  groundless  bruit.  The  King  their  master  had 
fair  daughters,  with  any  whereof  it  was  supposed  the  claim  of 
Orkney  would  go.  They  thanked  me  for  the  good  offices  they 
had  received  from  me,  seeing  my  staying  them  from  parting 
discontent,  had  preserved  the  two  countries  from  being  engaged 
in  war  :  which,  they  said,  they  would  not  fail  to  declare  unto  the 
King  their  master,  with  whom  they  would  not  fail  to  make  me 
acquainted,  not  doubting  but  that  the  King  my  master  would  one 
day  say,  that  I  had  done  him  good  service.  So  I  did  take  leave, 
having  rewarded  the  gunners,  trumpeters  and  inusicians. 

At  my  return  to  court  I  acquainted  his  Majesty  that  the  Danish 
ambassadors  had  set  sail  for  their  own  country  very  well  contented. 
I  gave  him  a  particular  account  of  all  speeches  that  past  betwixt 
them  and  me  at  their  parting.  Whereupon  his  Majesty  took 
occasion  shortly  after  to  send  one  to  Denmark,  offering  that 
commission  to  me  ;  which  I  shifted,  perceiving  those  who  had 
his  Majesty's  ear,  and  had  most  credit  with  him,  to  be  altogether 
averse  from  his  marriage  that  way,  holding  still  one  course  with 
England.  I  named  Mr.  Peter  Young  almoner,  as  very  fit  for  that 
errand  ;  who  was  sent  to  Denmark,  to  thank  that  King,  and  to 
see  his  daughters,  that  he  might  make  report  again  of  his  liking 
of  them,  with  a  promise,  that  ere  long  his  Majesty  would  send  a 
more  honourable  ambassage. 

The  earl  of  Arran  being  sent  home,  as  said  is,  the  English 
ambassador  and  his  Scots  friends  (as  the  master  of  Gray,  secretary 
Maitland,  and  the  justice-clerk)  had  chief  credit  and  handling 
of  his   Majesty's  affairs.     The   said   ambassador  had  procured 

i8s 


THE  MEMOIRS  OF 


such  favour  and  familiar  access  about  his  Majesty  at  all  times, 
that  he  was  upon  an  enterprize  to  have  brought  in  secretly  the 
banished  lords,  to  have  fallen  down  upon  their  knees  in  the  park 
of  Stirling  before  his  Majesty,  at  such  a  time  as  they  should  have 
so  many  friends  in  court,  as  that  his  Majesty  should  have  remained 
in  their  hands  as  masters  of  the  court  for  the  time.  But  this 
enterprize  failed  him  ;  for  they  durst  not  yet  take  such  hazardous 
course,  till  they  might  lay  their  plots  more  substantially. 

Then  the  said  English  ambassador  enterprized  to  transport  his 
Majesty  out  of  the  park  of  Stirling  unto  England  :    and  failing 
thereof,  his  Majesty  was  to  be  detained  by  force  within  the  castle 
of  Stirhng  ;   whither  companies  of  men  were  sent  to  be  there  at 
an  appointed  day.     Of  which  design  my  brother  Sir  Robert  got 
intelligence,  and  told   it  incontinently  to  the   King's   Majesty, 
giving  him  the  names  of  the  chief  enterprizers.     And  because  it 
came  to  one  of  their  ears,  who    stoutly  affirmed    the  contrary, 
my  brother  offered  to  maintain  the  truth  thereof  by  combat  : 
which  his  Majesty  would  not  permit,  because  at  last  the  person 
granted  it  to  his  Majesty.     Whereupon  my  brother  persuaded 
his  Majesty,  with  great  difficulty,  to  depart  out  of  Stirling  for  ten 
or  fifteen  days,  and  hunt  at  Kincardine,  before  the  enterprize 
were  ripe.     Which  so  soon  as  the  ambassador  understood,  he 
fled  in  great  fear  and  haste,  without  goodnight,  or  leave-taking  of 
his  Majesty  :     well  instructed,  and  furnished  with  the  promises 
of  such  as  had  assisted  him  in  our  court,  to  persuade  the  noble- 
men who  were  banished  in  England  to  come  home,  where  they 
should  find  friends  enough  before  them  at  court  to  put  his  Majesty 
in  their  hands.     The  master  of  Gray  also  absented  himself,  and 
went  to  Dunkeld,  and  there  remained  with  the  earl  of  Athole. 
And  upon  some  bruits  of  enterprizes,  there  was  a  proclamation 
set  out  in  his  Majesty's  name,  by  such  as  had  his  ear,  to  purchase 
to  themselves  the  more  credit  to  be  true  and  careful  counsellors 
to  his  Majesty  :    which  proclamation  was  afterward  delayed  by 
craft,  that  the  banished  might  prevent  the  day,  and  come  in  and 
get  the  King  in  their  hands,  whereby  they  might  discharge  the 
proclamation  at  their  pleasure. 

In  the  mean  time  I  received  a  letter  to  be  at  his  Majesty  with  all 
possible  diligence,  and  another  from  the  earl  of  Arran,  intreating 
me  to  accompany  him  from  Kinneil  to  the  court.  But  I  went  to 
his  Majesty  strait  ;  whither  also  the  said  earl  came  that  same 
night :  for  he  had  procured  liberty  to  return  again  to  court,  and 
remain  about  his  Alajesty. 

At  my  coming  to  Stirling,  I  had  intelligence  from  a  very  sure 
hand,  that  the  said  lords  were  already  at  the  entry  of  the  borders, 
assisted  by  my  lord  Hamilton,  my  lord  Maxwell,  my  lord  Bothwell, 
my  lord  Hume,  and  sundry  others,  who  had  not  formerly  joined 
with  them.  Also  the  earl  of  Athole,  the  laird  of  Tullibardine, 
Buccleuch,  Cesford,  Cowdenknows,  Drumlanrick,  and  others, 
who  were  in  greatest  credit  about  his  Majesty,  were  to  join  with 

186 


SIR  JAMES  MELVILLE 


them  at  their  in-coming.  Whereof  I  advertised  his  Majesty  and 
colonel  Stuart,  who  undertook  to  ride  unto  the  borders,  and  over- 
throw them,  before  they  were  wholly  convened  together.  Which 
might  very  probably  have  been  effectuated,  if  the  design  had  not 
been  carftily  disappointed  by  such  as  were  about  his  Majesty, 
who  appeared  to  set  forward  the  colonel's  enterprize  to  please  his 
Majest^•,  and  to  conquer  credit  ;  saying,  they  would  write  to 
Cowdenknows,  Buccleuch,  Cesford,  and  such  others  to  assist 
him  ;  whom  they  knew  to  be  upon  the  contrary  faction  already  : 
so  that  the  design  of  scattering  them  was  rendred  by  that  craft 
ineffectual.  And  because  I  perceived  the  craftj-  intention,  and 
that  they  feared  I  would  therewith  acquaint  his  Majesty,  they 
caused  his  Majesty  to  send  me  a  forged  errand  to  Dunkeld,  that 
they  might  the  better  bring  their  purpose  to  pass  without  any 
contradiction.  The  pretext  of  my  commission  was  to  cause  the 
earl  of  Athole  to  stay  at  home,  and  not  to  join  with  the  lords  who 
were  to  come  shortly  to  Stirling.  And  by  the  way  I  was  to  deliver 
a  letter  to  the  baillies  of  St.  Johnston,  to  be  upon  their  guard,  and 
not  to  suffer  any  of  the  King's  enemies  to  come  within  their  town. 
The  baillies  enquired  of  me,  what  if  the  earl  of  Athole  and  master 
of  Gray  would  desire  to  come  within  their  town  .?  I  said.  They 
might  let  themselves  enter  with  ten  in  company,  but  no  more. 
They  alledged.  That  their  letter  specified  not  that.  I  told  them, 
That  was  committed  to  me  by  mouth,  the  conclusion  of  my 
letter  willing  them  to  credit  me. 

When  I  came  to  Dunkeld,  I  knew  that  the  earl  of  Athole  would 
not  stay  for  me,  who  had  i  ,000  men  in  readiness  to  take  the  town 
of  St.  Johnston,  and  to  come  thence  to  Stirling,  with  the  master 
of  Gray,  who  was  yet  with  him.  But  however  I  told  him,  That 
colonel  Stuart  w-as  gone  with  forces,  to  defeat  the  lords  at  their 
entry  into  the  country,  before  they  might  be  joined  together. 
And  that  therefore  he  would  do  well  to  lye  at  home,  till  he  might 
understand  the  issue  of  the  said  enterprize.  If  that  took  effect, 
it  would  be  folly  to  him  to  march  forward  ;  and  if  it  did  not 
succeed,  he  might  do  as  his  heart  served  him.  He  thought  this 
counsel  good,  desiring  me  to  write  unto  his  Majesty  for  a  licence 
to  him  and  his,  to  remain  at  home  ;  which  I  did.  In  the  mean 
time  the  master  of  Gray  was  sent  for  to  court,  the  ports  of  the  town 
of  Perth  being  refused  to  his  men,  who  were  come  out  of  Angus 
to  assist  them.  At  his  returning  to  court,  he  was  as  great  with  his 
Majesty  as  ever  he  was,  remaining  with  him  within  the  castle  of 
Stirling  ;  where  there  were  two  factions,  who  discovered  them- 
selves so  soon  as  they  saw  the  malecontents  and  banished  lords 
drew  near  unto  the  town  of  Stirling,  whither  they  came  to  the 
number  of  3,000,  and  entred  into  the  town  without  stop.  His 
Majesty'  inclined  most  to  the  faction  who  brought  in  the  said  lords, 
who  advised  his  Majesty  to  send  some  down  to  the  town  to  com- 
mune and  compound  matters.  Which  was  at  length  agreed 
upon,  and  concluded.  That  his  Majesty  should  remain  in  their 

187 


"THE  MEMOIRS  OF 


hands  ;  that  no  rigour  should  be  used  to  those  who  were  about 
him.  So  that  those  who  were  mediators,  appeared  to  be  good 
instruments  and  stayers  of  bloodshed.  For  Arran  was  escaped, 
and  fled  at  their  first  entry  :  but  colonel  Stuart,  only  with  ten  or 
twelve,  gave  them  such  a  charge  in  the  midst  of  the  narrow  part 
of  the  town,  that  a  little  more  help  might  have  put  them  in  great 
disorder.  For  the  most  part  of  their  southland  men  were  busy 
spoiling  horse  and  goods. 

The  lords,  when  they  came  into  his  Majesty's  presence,  fell 
down  upon  their  knees,  humbly  begging  pardon  ;  adding,  That 
the  hard  handling  by  Arran,  and  other  partial  persons  about  his 
Majesty,  had  compelled  them  upon  plain  necessity,  and  for  their 
last  refuge,  to  take  the  boldness  to  come  in  arms,  for  the  surety 
of  their  lives  and  lands,  being  ever  humbly  minded  to  serve  his 
Majesty,  and  obey  him. 

The  King  again,  like  a  prince  full  of  courage  and  magnanimitj', 
spoke  unto  them  pertly  and  boastingly,  as  though  he  had  been 
victorious  over  them,  calling  them  traitors,  and  their  enterprize 
plain  ti^eason.  Yet,  said  he,  in  respect  of  your  necessity,  and  in 
hope  of  your  good  behaviour  in  time  coming,  he  should  remit  their 
faults  ;  and  the  rather,  because  they  used  no  vengeance  nor 
cruelty,  at  their  in-coming. 

In  the  mean  time,  his  Majesty  committed  and  recommended 
the  keeping  of  the  earls  of  Montrose  and  Crawford  unto  my  lord 
Hamilton  ;  and  the  keeping  of  Colonel  Stuart  unto  my  lord 
Maxwell.  These  three  were  for  a  time  in  some  danger,  because 
they  had  too  violently  espoused  Arran's  interest.  The  rest  of  his 
Majesty's  servants  were  overlook'd.  Sir  Robert  my  brother, 
and  his  son,  were  both  courteously  used.  This  moderate  be- 
haviour of  the  lords  conquered  daily  more  and  more  favour  from 
his  Majesty.  They  pressing  him  in  nothing  but  in  humble 
intercession  of  such  as  formerly  had  his  ear.  A  parliament  was 
proclaimed  at  Linlithgow  for  their  restitution  ;  whither  his 
Majesty  was  convoyed  to  pass  his  time  at  hunting,  thereby  to 
recreate  his  spirits. 

Many  noblemen  and  others  were  written  for,  to  come  unto  the 
said  parliament.  Among  the  rest,  the  earl  of  Athole,  to  whom 
I  had  been  sent,  and  with  whom  I  was  at  the  lords  coming  to 
Stirling  ;  where  I  was  waiting  upon  an  answer  from  his  Majesty, 
of  the  letter  which  the  earl  of  Athole  had  desired  me  to  write, 
as  said  is.  When  I  came  to  kiss  his  Majesty's  hand,  I  was  gladly 
made  welcome.  His  Majesty  alledging.  That  I  was  Corby's 
messenger.  I  answered,  That  my  absence  with  the  earl  of  Athole 
had  saved  all  my  own  horse,  and  the  town  of  St.  Johnston  untaken, 
and  had  kept  the  said  earl  from  assisting  with  the  rest  ;  so  that  if 
those,  who  had  remained  at  Stirling  with  him,  had  kept  the  south, 
as  well  as  I  had  done  the  north,  their  horse  had  been  safe  as  well 
as  mine  was.  His  Majesty  said.  That  God  had  turned  all  to  the 
best  :   for  he  had  been  before  made  believe,  that  he  would  oe  in 

i88 


SIR  JAMES  MELVILLE 


danger  of  his  life,  in  case  these  noblemen  had  ever  any  more  power 
about  him  ;  and  yet  though  they  had  both  him  and  his  servants 
in  their  power,  they  had  used  no  rigour  nor  vengeance.  His 
Majesty  remembred  how  frequently  I  had  forewarned  him  of  this 
and  the  like  accidents,  that  I  said  would  follow  upon  the  earl  of 
Arran's  rash  proceedings.  He  acknowledged,  he  had  been  a 
bad  instrument,  and  declared  he  should  never  have  more  place 
or  credit  about  him.  He  desired  me  to  v/ait  at  court,  and  help 
to  do  all  good  offices  betwixt  him  and  his  nobility  ;  and  to  tell 
them  the  truth,  who  was  to  blame  for  their  trouble,  as  having 
occasioned  the  same,  seeing  he  had  great  prejudice  and  no  ad- 
vantage thereby  ;  it  being  far  from  his  inclination  to  seek  any 
man's  life,  lands  or  goods,  but  only  the  peace  and  quiet  of  the 
countr\-,  and  the  settling  of  the  subjects  among  themselves  ; 
which  I  could  testify  for  a  truth,  the  verity  thereof  consisting 
within  my  knowledge.  His  Majestj'  told  me  also,  how  he  had 
shewn  unto  the  noblemen  my  honest  and  friendly  advices  toward 
them,  and  that  I  opposed  myself  continually  to  the  earl  of  Arran's 
proceedings.  He  desired  me  also  to  help  to  satisfy  the  ministers, 
v.ho  were  seeking  to  be  restored  unto  their  former  free  assemblies, 
which  he  had  forbidden  them  at  the  advice  of  the  earl  of  Arran  ; 
the  same  being  one  of  the  occasions  of  all  the  following  troubles, 
which  were  chiefly  grounded  upon  the  dissatisfaction  of  the 
Alinisters,  by  whom  the  country  was  influenced.  So  that  I 
tarried  a  while  at  court,  till  matters  began  to  take  some  settling. 
Divers  of  the  lords  also  were  earnest  with  me  to  stay,  oflFering  me 
great  kindness  ;  saying.  That  his  Majesty  had  told  them  every 
man's  part  and  behaviour  in  relation  to  their  banishment  and 
persecution  ;  and  that  I  was  ever  for  a  moderate  course,  desiring 
and  pressing,  as  his  Majesty's  interest,  an  act  of  oblivion  to  be 
past  for  all  bygones  during  his  minority.  The  said  lords  there- 
fore caused  me  to  propose  some  of  their  suits  to  his  Majesty, 
whom  in  nothing  they  would  press  beyond  his  own  pleasure. 

But  the  council  was  of  diflTerent  opinions  concerning  the  re- 
storing of  the  ministers  to  their  former  privileges  and  freedoms  ; 
where  I  was  brought  in  to  give  my  opinion.  The  greatest  part 
thought  fit  to  delay  them  for  a  time,  chiefly  such  as  had  remained 
about  his  Majesty,  and  had  said  too  much  before  to  the  contrary. 
But  they  had  yet  some  private  designs  hatching  in  their  heads, 
which  could  not  be  brought  about,  if  the  country  were  wholly 
in  peace  :  which  they  knew  would  be,  were  the  ministers  satisfied. 
My  opinion  was,  That  his  Majesty  was  not  to  be  blamed  that  the 
noblemen  were  banished,  or  the  ministers  privileges  taken  from 
them,  seeing  all  these  insolencies  were  committed  by  evil  instru- 
ments, who  ruled  over  his  Majesty's  good  mind,  to  satisfy  their 
own  ambition  ;  who  now  being  fled  and  absent,  I  knew  no  reason 
why  the  ministers  should  not  be  restored  to  their  former  privileges, 
as  well  as  the  noblemen  to  their  lands  and  honours  ;  the  one 
being  no  less  contributive  to  the  settling  of  the  kingdom  as  the 
O  189 


THE  MEMOIRS  OF 


other  ;  seeing,  if  this  were  omitted,  the  blame  would  still  ly  upon 
his  Majesty,  and  the  country  would  be  still  in  trouble.  The 
secretary  Maitland  was  against  this  opinion  ;  for  he  had  formerly 
spoken  too  much  on  the  contrary.  But  the  rest  of  the  noblemen 
and  the  council  thought  my  opinion  best.  But  yet  at  that  time 
it  was  not  followed,  nor  granted  at  that  parliament.  Yet  shortly 
after,  it  was  found  his  Majesty's  interest,  and  conducing  for  fully 
establishing  peace  in  the  country,  that  the  ministers  should  be 
restored  to  all  their  former  privileges. 

It  is  above  mentioned,  That  the  master  almoner  was  sent  to 
Denmark.  Shortly  after  colonel  Stuart  took  occasion  to  go 
thither  about  his  own  affairs  ;  for  he  had  a  pension  off  the  King 
of  Denmark.  He  obtained  also  some  writing,  whereby  he  was 
commissioned  to  speak  of  the  King's  marriage  with  the  King  of 
Denmark's  eldest  daughter.  And  they  both  returned  with  so  good 
and  friendly  answers,  that  there  was  little  more  mention  made  of 
the  restitution  of  the  isles  of  Orkney.  The  King  of  Denmark 
was  also  put  in  hope  by  them,  that  his  Majesty  would  send  the 
next  summer  an  honourable  ambassage  to  Denmark,  to  deal 
further  in  these  matters. 

I  have  shewed  already  the  dangerous  practices  of  the  English 
ambassador  Mr.  Wotton,  and  a  part  of  their  effects  ;  but  the 
principal  is  yet  behind. 

The  council  of  England  having  concluded  to  take  the  life  from 
the  Queen's  Majesty  his  highness's  mother,  after  she  had  been 
many  years  kept  captive  in  England,  thought  first  to  get  the  King 
her  son  in  their  hands,  and  to  put  him  in  hope,  that  he  should 
obtain  the  crown  of  England,  the  rather,  that  he  was  within  their 
country  ;  and,  in  the  mean  time,  to  be  sure,  that  he  should  not  be 
able  to  revenge  his  mother's  death,  but  might  be  as  a  pledge  among 
them,  in  case  his  countrymen,  or  his  foreign  and  French  friends 
would  pretend  to  menace  them,  or  to  make  war  for  his  liberty, 
or  in  revenge  of  her  death  :  for  in  that  case  they  might  threaten 
to  cut  him  off,  if  for  his  cause  they  should  be  troubled.  And 
however  it  were,  through  time  it  was  suspected  that  they  intended 
to  take  his  life  also,  after  that  they  had  laid  their  plots  how  to 
make  him  odious  to  the  people  by  false  counterfeit  letters,  and 
alledged  practices  (as  they  had  craftily  and  deceitfully  alledged 
upon  his  mother)  against  the  state.  But  finding  this  their  design 
of  carrying  him  to  England  discovered  by  my  brother's  intelligence, 
the  said  ambassador  fled,  as  said  is.  And  for  the  next  best,  thought 
fit  to  see  his  Majesty  put  in  the  hands  of  the  most  part  of  the 
nobility,  who  were  banished  for  the  time,  and  during  their  banish- 
ment had  been  sheltered  in  England,  who  they  thought  by  fitted 
instruments  might  be  stirred  up  to  take  his  life,  at  least  to  keep 
him  in  perpetual  prison,  in  revenge  of  the  injury  had  been  done 
them.  But  herein  they  were  disappointed  :  for  they  used  them- 
selves so  moderately  and  discreetly,  that  they  sought  nothing  but 
their  own  native  country  and  lands,  and  that  they  might  have 

190 


SIR  JAMES  MELVILLE 


access  to  serve  and  obey  their  prince,  without  any  further  ven- 
geance or  rigour  against  their  particular  enemies  :  as  their  actions 
and  proceedings  have  sufficiently  declared  since,  to  the  great 
increase  of  their  favour  with  his  Majest>',  and  estimation  of  the 
whole  country-. 

It  hath  been  rarely  or  never  seen  in  any  country,  that  there  have 
been  so  great  alterations,  with  so  little  bloodshed,  as  hath  been  in 
Scotland  in  this  King's  time.     Now  those  who  were  enemies  to 
our  Queen  and  King's  title  to  the  crown  of  England,  seeing  some 
of  their  fetches  to  fail  them,  entred  in  deliberation  what  way  to 
proceed  to  take  the  Queen's  life.     The  council  of  England,  a  great 
part  of  the  nobility  and  states,  fell  down  upon  their  knees,  humbly 
requesting  her  Majesty  to  have  compassion  upon  their  unsure 
estate,  albeit  she  should  slight  her  own  ;   alledging.  That  her  life 
was  in  hazard  by  the  practices  of  the  Queen  of  Scotland,  and  their 
lives   and    fortunes.     She   alledged.  That  her  heart  would   not 
suiler  her  to  let  any  sentence  be  given  forth  against  the  Queen 
her  dear  sister  and  cousin,  so  near  of  her  royal  blood.     Yet  she 
was  at  last  moved,  for  very  pity  of  their  conditions,  to  let  sentence 
of  death  pass  against  her,  upon  this  express  condition,  That  it 
should  rather  serve  to  be  a  terror  to  her,  to  oblige  her  to  cease  from 
making  any  more  practices,  than  that  she  really  intended  to  see 
the  blood  of  so  noble  a  princess  shed.     And  in  the  mean  time,  the 
written  sentence  was  given  to  be  kept  to  Mr.  Davison,  one  of  her 
secretaries,  not  to  be  delivered  without  her  Majesty's  express 
coinmand.     Nevertheless  the  said  Davison,  being  deceived  by  the 
council,  delivered  unto  them  the  said  written  sentence  of  death. 
Whereupon  they  gave  the  Queen  warning  a  night  before,  to  pre- 
pare her  for  God.     Which  short  warning  she  took  very  patiently, 
and  lay  not  down  that  night  to  sleep,  but  wrote  some  letters  unto 
the  King  her  son,  the  King  of  France,  and  some  other  princes,  her 
friends.     And  after  she  had  made  her  testament,  she  put  the  gold 
she  had  in  as  many  little  purses  as  she  had  servants,  rnore  or  less 
in  every  purse,  conform  to  their  qualities  and  deservings.     The 
rest  of  the  night  she  employed  in  prayer.     And  being  in  the 
morning  conveyed  out  of  her  chamber,  to  the  great  hall  where  the 
scaifold  was  prepared,  she  took  her  death  patiently  and  constantly, 
couragiously    ending    her    life,    being    cruelly    handled    by    the 
executioner,  having  received  divers  strokes  of  the  ax.     Which 
execution  was  the  boldlier  performed,  because  that  some  Scotsmen 
assured  them,  that  the  King  her  son  would  soon  forget  it.     Albeit 
his  Majesty,  when  he  understood  this  sorrowful  news,  took  hea\'y 
displeasure,  and  convened  a  parliament,  wherein,  larnenting  the 
mishandling  of  his  mother  by  his  enemies  who  were  in  England, 
he  desired  the  assistance  of  his  subjects  to  be  revenged.     Where 
all  the  estates  in  one  voice  cried  out  in  a  great  rage,  to  set  forward^ ; 
promising  that  they  should  all  hazard  their  lives,  and  spend  their 
goods  and  estates  largely  to  that  effect,  to  revenge  that  unkindly 
and   unlawful  murder.     Which  put  the  council  of  England  in 

191 


THE  MEMOIRS  OF 


great  fear  for  a  while  ;  but  some  of  our  countrymen  comforted 
them,  and  so  did  some  EngH.sh  that  haunted  our  court,  alledging 
it  would  be  soon  forgot.  Others  said,  That  the  blood  was  already 
fallen  from  his  Majesty's  heart  ;  and  if  it  were  not,  they  doubted 
not  but  to  cause  the  matter  fall  out  to  their  satisfaction. 

First  when  the  King's  Majesty,'  heard  that  they  were  about  to 
accuse  and  convict  his  mother,  he  sent  the  master  of  Gray  and  Sir 
Robert  my  brother  to  deal  for  her  Majesty.  Where  my  brother 
spoke  brave  and  stout  language  to  the  council  of  England  ;  so 
that  the  Queen  herself  threatned  his  life.  And  afterward  he 
would  have  been  retained  captive,  had  not  the  master  of  Gray's 
credit  prevented  it,  and  the  promises  he  made  ;  whereby  they 
were  both  suffered  to  come  home  together. 

Four  months  before,  his  Majesty  caused  send  for  me,  that  I 
might  prepare  myself  for  England,  to  confirm  a  band  of  alliance 
offensive  and  defensive  with  the  Queen  and  crown  of  England  ; 
and  to  take  the  Queen  of  England's  oath  for  observing  the  said 
bond.  And  Mr.  Randolph,  who  was  here,  was  to  take  the  King's 
oath,  and  use  the  like  ceremonies  here. 

At  my  coming  to  court,  I  did  what  I  could  to  be  shifted  of  the 
said  commission,  being  a  matter  of  so  great  consequence,  as  an 
indirect  breaking  of  the  bond  with  France.  Yet  his  Majesty 
would  take  no  excuse,  but  thought  fit  to  send  me  thither,  that  I 
might  get  him  sure  knowledge  of  sundry  things,  which  his  Majesty 
supposed  another  would  not  get  ;  by  reason  that  all  his  mother's 
friends  and  his  own,  that  were  in  that  court  and  country,  were 
best  and  longest  acquainted  with  my  brother  and  me.  But  so 
soon  as  Mr.  Randolph  had  heard  that  I  was  to  be  sent  to  England, 
he  desired  audience  of  his  Majesty,  and  used  all  the  persuasions 
he  could  to  get  me  stayed,  and  another  sent  that  might  be  meeter 
for  the  time.  After  that  his  Majesty  had  reasoned  long  with  him 
thereabout,  he  called  upon  me,  and  told  me  how  that  Mr.  Ran- 
dolph had  spoken  so  much  good  of  me,  whom  he  loved  better  than 
any  Scots  subject,  upon  account  of  our  old  acquaintance  ;  but 
had  said  that  I  would  not  be  acceptable  to  the  Queen  his  mistress 
at  that  time,  because  Sir  Robert  my  brother  had  been  always, 
and  was  yet  upon  his  mother's  faction,  and  also  that  my  brother 
Sir  Andrew  of  Garvock  was  for  the  present  in  England  her 
Majesty's  master  of  the  houshold.  His  Majesty  said,  he  replied 
again.  That  I  was  never  esteemed  a  factious  person,  and  so  would 
not  yield  at  the  first.  But  I  requested  his  Majesty  to  grant  him 
his  desire  :  for  I  had  no  will  of  that  commission,  knowing  that 
there  was  nothing  meant  but  fraudful  dealing  by  England  with 
him  at  that  time.  It  is  for  that  cause,  said  he,  that  I  would  have 
you  there.  And  it  is  for  that  same  cause.  Sir,  said  I,  that  I  would 
gladly  shun  the  same,  with  your  Majesty's  favour. 

His  Majesty  said.  He  wondred  that  Randolph  should  seem  to 
like  so  well  of  me,  and  yet  desire  another  to  be  sent.  I  answered 
his  Majesty,  That  in  France  and  Italy  we  liked  each  other  very 

192 


SIR  JAMES  MELVILLE 


well,  but  in  the  handling  his  Majesty's  affairs  we  shot  at  sundry 
marks.     His  Majesty  would  still  have  me  to  accept  that  com- 
mission, and  asked  whom  I  believed  that  Mr.  Randolph  would 
desire  to  be  sent.     I  answered.  Either  the  master  of  Gray,  or  Mr. 
Archibald  Douglas.     For  the  master  of  Gray  had  made  moyen 
for  Mr.  Archibald,  and  had  brought  him  home  out  of  England, 
and  had  summoned  an  assize  of  his  own  friends  to  cleanse  him 
of  the  late  King's  murder.     And  being  cleansed,  he  haunted  the 
court  familiarly  with  his  Majesty.     It  was  he  indeed  whom  Mr, 
Randolph  desired  to  be  sent,  or  the  Master  of  Gray,  or  both  in  a 
commission.     But  his  Alajesty  would  not  consent  thereto.     Then 
the  laird  of  Cowdenknows,  captain  of  the  castle  of  Edinburgh, 
desired  the  commission.     But  Mr.  Randolph  would  have  none 
other,  causing  the  Queen  his  Mistress  to  write  back.  That  it  was 
unnecessary  to  send  any  ambassador  for  that  errand  at  that  time  ; 
only  desiring  that  the  King  would  write  with  his  own  hand.  That 
one  should  be  sent  when  she  thought  time  ;   assuring  by  his  said 
letter,  that  it  was  in  effect  already  concluded  in  his  mind,  as  if  the 
ceremony  were  performed.     Which  letter  was  sent  to  the  English 
ambassador,  who  was  resident  in  France  for  the  time,  to  be  pro- 
duced before  the  King  of  France  and  the  Queen-mother,  to  let 
them  know,  that  albeit  the  King  of  Scotland  was  suiting  her 
Alajesty  for  an  alliance  offensive  and  defensive  (which  would  be 
a  clear  breach  of  the  old  bond  with  France)  yet  she  would  not  put 
them  in  suspicion  and  jealously  of  her  in  consenting  thereto,  as 
not  much  valuing  the  Scottish  King's  fickle  friendship  or  feud, 
so  long  as  France  and  she  kept  their  peace  and  friendship  together. 
Which  was  done  only  to  disgrace  and  discredit  the  King  with  the 
King  of  France.     So  that  there  proceeded  no  more  from  the  said 
intended  bond.     And  I  was  not  a  little  satisfied  that  my  hands 
had  been  free  thereof. 

Likewise  when  the  bruit  was  of  the  Spanish  navy,  in  the  year 
1587,  that  they  were  coming  to  these  parts,  I  was  ordered  to  be 
sent  to  Spain  ;    which  voyage  I  happily  also  eschewed. 

Now  to  return  again  to  Mr.  Archibald  Douglas  :  He  returned 
back  to  England,  to  remain  ambassador  theie  for  his  Majesty. 
By  the  which  means  he  obtained  the  greater  credit  with  the  Queen 
his  Majesty's  mother,  to  her  no  small  prejudice,  the  same  con- 
tributing to  her  ruin  ;  he  having  discovered  several  passages 
betivixt  her  and  himself,  and  other  catholicks  of  England,  teriding 
to  her  liberation  :  which  were  made  use  of  against  her  Majesty, 
for  taking  her  life.  So  soon  as  my  brother  Sir  Robert  was  sent 
there,  to  use  sharp  and  boasting  language  to  see  if  it  might  save 
the  Queen's  life,  he  discharged  Mr.  Archibald  of  the  office  of 
ambassador.  This  I  set  down  in  a  parenthesis,  to  shew  how  far 
a  good  King  was  abused  and  misled,  by  minions  whom  he  liked 
well,  to  his  great  hurt  and  dishonour.  In  the  mean  time,  for  some 
disorder  upon  the  west  border  betwixt  the  Maxwells  and  John- 
stones,  his  Majesty  went  there  to  reform  the  disobedience.     But 

193 


THE  MEMOIRS  OF 


some  houses  were  kept  out,  and  would  not  render  unto  him. 
Whereupon  Mr.  John  Maitland  being  made  chancellor,  the  master 
of  Gray,  and  other  favourers  of  the  English  faction,  did  councel 
his  Majesty  to  send  to  Berwick,  because  it  was  alledged  to  be 
nearest,  to  borrow  cannons  to  besiege  the  said  house.  Which 
guns  were  readily  and  gladly  lent  by  the  governor  of  Berwick. 
Which  apparently  he  durst  not  have  done,  without  knowledge 
and  consent  of  the  Queen  and  council,  who  judged  thereby  that 
his  Majesty  had  forgot  the  great  boast  that  was  made  at  the  foie- 
named  parliament,  concerning  the  revenge  of  his  mother's  death. 
For  after  his  Majesty  had  ripely  considered  the  best  and  worst 
of  that  deed,  remembred  himself  of  the  many  friends  he  had  in 
England,  who  had  no  hand  in  his  mother's  death,  he  thought  it 
not  just  to  trouble  the  peace  and  quiet  of  the  kingdom  for  the 
deed  of  a  few  who  guided  the  Queen  and  court,  he  being  thereof 
himself  apparent  heir.  And  also  because  the  Queen  was  of  good 
years,  and  not  like  to  live  long,  he  was  resolved  to  abide  his  time 
to  be  revenged  upon  his  enemies.  As  for  the  Queen  his  good 
sister,  she  had  sworn  and  purged  herself  of  the  death  of  his  mother, 
being  deceived  by  her  council  and  secretary  Davison,  whom  she 
committed  to  the  tower  of  London.  This  was  the  way  of  con- 
veyance of  that  ugly  unkindly  murder. 

Shortly  after  this,  there  was  a  great  bruit  of  the  Spanish  navy 
bound  to  land  in  England,  Scotland  or  Ireland.  And  then  also 
were  entred  about  his  Majesty  a  new  faction,  whereof  the  earl  of 
Huntly  was  chief,  who  had  lately  married  the  duke  of  Lenox's 
sister.  This  new  faction  aspired  by  little  and  little  to  shoot  out 
the  master  of  Gray,  the  chancellor,  and  others  their  dependers. 
and  to  retain  part  of  those  who  were  in  court  before  ;  where  there 
were  divers  conspiracies  to  kill  the  chancellor  :  and  such  as  had 
assisted  him  were  to  be  removed,  because  they  did  stick  too  long 
by  the  court.  The  earls  of  Huntly,  Bothwell,  and  others,  thought 
to  have  taken  the  King  and  kept  him.  And  albeit  two  of  their 
enterprizes  had  failed,  yet  they  were  desirous  to  be  nearest  his 
Majesty  at  the  in-coming  of  the  Spaniards.  And  in  the  mean 
time  they  resolved  to  cause  the  King  send  Sir  John  Seaton  to 
Spain  :  But  his  Majesty  would  have  none  to  be  sent  but  me. 
Whereupon  the  chancellor  and  my  brother  Sir  Robert  did  write 
to  me,  desiring  me  to  refuse  the  employment  ;  because  they  said 
his  Majesty  would  have  one  there  of  his  own  religion,  %vho  would 
not  be  corrupted,  in  whom  he  could  trust.  Yet  his  Majesty  had 
inclination  to  deal  with  Spain,  and  I  had  as  little  desire  to  under- 
take the  voyage,  albeit  Sir  George  Douglas  desired  the  said  com- 
mission, as  one  who  had  assisted  his  Majesty's  mother  ;  yet  it  took 
no  effect.  The  earl  of  Huntly  in  the  mean  time  procured  a  gift 
of  the  benefice  of  Dunfermling,  which  was  lately  taken  from  the 
master  of  Gray  now  decourted,  and  given  to  him.  How  that  the 
Spanish  great  navy  was  three  years  in  making  their  preparations, 
and   were  sufficiently   and    substantially   furnished   with    men , 

194 


SIR  JAMES  MELVILLE 


ammunition,  and  all  sorts  of  necessaries,  is  now  manifest  to  all 
Europe.  What  was  their  intent  and  purpose  was  so  secret,  that 
the  chiftains  of  the  army  knew  no  more,  but  as  they  should  under- 
stand by  the  opening  of  their  stamped  instructions  at  every 
appointed  landing  place.  Many  were  of  opinion,  that  they  were 
first  disappointed  by  the  duke  of  Parma  governor  of  Flanders, 
who  had  behaved  himself  in  his  charge  so  circumspectly,  in  his 
promises  so  truly,  in  enterprizes  so  stoutly,  that  he  won  the  hearts 
of  the  soldiers,  and  the  favour  of  his  enemies,  so  that  he  was 
suspected  by  the  King  of  Spain  to  entertain  designs  of  usurpng 
the  estate  of  Flanders  :  and  therefore  he  was  minded  to  remove 
him  out  of  that  great  and  rich  government.  He  being  hereupon 
discontent,  as  was  alledged,  neither  furnished  the  said  army 
victuals,  nor  assisted  them  with  ships,  nor  would  he  suffer  them 
to  land  in  his  bounds.  At  last  they  were  so  jealous  of  him,  that 
they  landed  not,  but  were  lying  at  anchor,  where  Sir  Francis  Drake 
by  a  stratagem  subtilly  devised,  of  a  ship  full  of  powder  with  a 
burning  link,  which  kindled  up  the  powder  so  soon  as  the  English 
ship  was  driven  by  a  direct  vehement  wind  within  the  midst  of  the 
Spanish  ships,  burning  thereby  several  of  the  greatest  of  them,  and 
causing  the  rest  to  cut  the  cables  of  their  anchors  for  haste,  to 
f^schew  the  fury  of  the  fire.  And  in  the  mean  time  God  sent  such 
a  vehement  storm  of  wind,  that  the  whole  navy  was  blown  and 
broken  upon  divers  coasts  of  our  isles,  and  of  Ireland  ;  and  their 
wreck  was  the  greater,  that  they  wanted  their  anchors. 

It  is  before  mentioned,  that  Mr.  Peter  Young  almoner  to  his 
Majesty',  and  colonel  Stuart  were  returned  from  Denmark  well 
rewarded,  and  contented  with  every  thing  that  they  had  seen, 
and  chiefly  with  the  fair  young  princess  ;  and  also  how  they  had 
put  the  King  of  Denmark  in  hope,  that  the  King  should  the  next 
summer  send  thither  an  honourable  ambassage,  to  deal  further 
to  the  increase  of  a  greater  amity.  And  for  this  effect,  the  bishop 
of  St.  Andrew's,  the  laird  of  Segie,  and  I,  were  named  to  be  sent  : 
but  I  was  retired,  and  had  no  will  to  meddle,  perceiving  his 
Majesty's  affairs  so  retarded  by  such  as  had  greatest  handling  about 
him.  Therefore,  upon  my  refusal,  the  chancellor  advised  the 
laird  of  Barnbarrow,  and  the  said  Mr.  Peter,  to  be  again  employed 
in  that  matter,  with  uncertain  and  irresolute  instructions  to  pro- 
pose marriage,  and  with  divers  fair  alledgeances  concerning  his 
Majesty's  sufficient  right  to  the  isles  of  Orkney  ;  which  the  King 
of  Denmark  was  minded  to  use  the  more  sharply,  but  for  the  hope 
he  was  put  in,  of  the  apparent  marriage  of  the  King's  Majesty 
with  his  eldest  daughter. 

These  ambassadors  were  not  well  embarked,  when  monsieur 
Dubartas  arrived  here  to  visit  the  King's  Majesty,  who,  he  heard, 
had  him  in  great  esteem,  for  his  rare  poesy  set  out  in  the  French 
tongue.  He  would  not  say  that  he  had  a  secret  commission  to 
propose  the  princess  of  Navarre  as  a  fit  marriage  for  his  Majesty, 
but  that  the  King  of  Navarre's  secretary  willed  him,  seeing  he 

195 


THE  MEMOIRS  OF 


was  to  come  this  way,  as  on  his  own  head,  to  propose  the  said 
marriage.  Monsieur  Dubartas's  qualities  were  so  good,  and 
his  credit  so  great  with  his  Majesty,  that  it  appeared,  if  the 
ambassadors  had  not  ah-eady  made  sail,  that  their  voyage  should 
have  been  stayed  for  that  season.  The  chancellor  assured 
Monsieur  Dubartas,  (as  he  shewed  me)  that  the  marriage  of 
Denmark  should  not  take  effect.  For  our  ambassadors  had  indeed 
such  strait  instructions,  and  so  slender  a  commission,  that  it  was 
enough  to  have  caused  the  King  of  Denmark  to  start  and  to  quarrel 
with  our  King,  were  it  not  that  they  dealt  above  their  commission. 
Which  kept  that  King  in  some  temper,  albeit  they  returned  with- 
out fruit,  full  of  displeasure,  thinking  themselves  scorned,  as  they 
were  indeed. 

In  the  mean  time  that  they  were  in  Denmark,  Monsieur 
Dubartas  being  in  Falkland  with  his  Majesty,  came  to  my  house, 
to  persuade  me  to  take  a  commission  in  hand,  which,  he  said, 
his  Majesty  would  lay  to  my  charge  ;  which  was,  to  be  sent  unto 
the  King  of  Navarre,  and  to  be  acquainted  with  madame  the 
princess,  his  sister.  And  because  his  Majesty  knew  that  I  would 
be  loth  to  go,  he  named  also  my  lord  Tungland,  my  brother,  wiio 
undertook  the  journey,  and  became  well  acquainted  with  the  said 
princess,  and  was  well  treated  and  rewarded  by  the  King  her 
brother,  now  King  of  France,  and  brought  with  him  the  picture 
of  the  princess,  with  a  good  report  of  her  rare  qualities. 

The  laird  of  Barnbarrow  and  Mr.  Peter  Young  being  returned 
back  from  Denmark,  declared  that  the  King  of  Denmark  thought 
nothing  of  their  commission,  judging  it  but  fruitless  dealing,  and 
delaying  oftime,  and  fair  language,  without  any  power  to  conclude. 
I  am  uncertain  whether  he  got  intelligence  of  his  Majesty's  sending 
my  brother  to  the  King  of  Navarre  :  but  the  marrying  of  his 
eldest  daughter  with  the  duke  of  Brunswick  gave  some  appearance 
that  he  had  got  some  notice  thereof  from  the  court  of  England, 
who  were  abundantly  well  informed  of  all  our  proceedings. 

After  this,  colonel  Stuart,  desirous  to  see  the  marriage  with  the 
King  of  Denmark's  daughter  take  effect,  went  thither,  upon  his 
own  expences,  divers  times.  And  seeing  the  eldest  daughter 
already  married,  he  excused  the  King's  Majesty,  and  laid  the 
blame  upon  those  who  had  the  handling  of  his  affairs.  So  that 
the  King  of  Denmark  promised  yet  to  give  his  second  daughter 
unto  the  King,  upon  conditions  that  ambassadors  would  be  sent 
there  the  next  year,  before  the  first  day  of  May.  In  the  m.ean 
time  the  King  of  Denmark  took  sickness  and  departed  this  life, 
leaving  the  same  commission  with  his  council,  and  such  as  were 
appointed  for  regents  of  the  realm. 

Now  the  King  being  suited  in  marriage  by  many  great  princes, 
and  his  ambassadors  being  come  back  both  out  of  Denmark  and 
Navarre,  with  the  pictures  of  the  young  princesses  ;  his  Majesty 
determined  first  to  ask  council  of  God  by  earnest  prayer,  to  direct 
him  where  it  would  be  meetest  for  the  weal  of  himself,  and  his 

196 


SIR  JAMES  MELVILLE 


country'.  So  that  after  fifteen  days  advisement  and  devout 
prayer,  as  said  is,  he  called  his  council  together  in  his  cabinet, 
and  told  them  how  he  had  been  advising  about  that  matter  of  so 
great  concernment  to  himself  and  his  country  the  space  of  fifteen 
days,  and  that  he  was  now  resolute  to  marry  in  Denmark. 

The  council  appeared  all  to  relish  his  resolution,  requiring 
meet  instnaments  to  be  employed  to  compleat  the  marriage,  and 
to  make  the  contract.  Then  his  Majesty  said,  that  he  had  already 
chosen  me  in  his  mind  for  one,  desiring  the  council  to  choose 
another  ;  which  they  did,  to  wit,  the  lord  of  Altry,  uncle  to  the 
earl  Marischal.  We  tv\'o  being  written  for,  and  come  to  court, 
found  not  such  earnestness  with  the  council  as  with  the  King  : 
which  my  lord  of  Altry  perceiving,  he  drew  home  again,  excusing 
himself  upon  his  age  and  fickliness.  His  Majesty  used  many 
persuasions  and  reasons  to  induce  me  to  undertake  the  voyage, 
declaring  how  he  had  many  times  sent  for  me  to  be  employed  in 
ambassages,  and  could  never  tell  why  I  went  not.  I  answered, 
that  his  Majesty  would  have  done  me  that  honour  many  times 
above  my  deserving,  which  he  would  not  have  done,  if  he  had 
known  my  insufficiency  for  such  matters  of  so  great  import,  as 
I  did  my  self.  His  Majesty  said,  that  this  business  concerning 
his  marriage  was  the  greatest  matter  that  ever  he  had  to  do,  and 
that  he  would  take  no  refusal.  I  said,  that  my  lord  Tungland 
my  brother  was  far  meeter  than  myself,  being  a  good  scholar, 
v.'ho  could  perfectly  speak  the  High  Dutch,  the  Latin,  and  the 
Flemming  languages,  with  the  French  tongue.  But  his  Alajesty 
would  still  repose  upon  me  in  that  errand  ;  but,  at  my  desire, 
was  satisfied  that  my  brother  should  be  put  in  commissioi  with 
me. 

Then  his  Majesty  said.  Albeit  the  council  will  form  your 
instructions  ;   yet  you  shall  receive  mine  out  of  my  ovy-n  m.outh. 

First,  '  If  the  King  of  Denmark  had  been  alive,  he  would  not 
have  stood  to  have  given  a  great  portion  with  his  daughter,  wherein 
it  is  probable  the  regent  and  his  council  will  be  as  sparing  as  they 
can.  I  doubt  not  therefore  but  you  will  endeavour  to  draw  from 
them  as  much  as  can  be  had  ;  but  at  length  stand  not  upon  money 
to  conclude  the  marriage. 

Secondly,  '  Know  what  friendship  and  assistance  they  will 
make  me,  when  it  may  please  God  to  place  me  by  right  in  the 
kingdom  of  England,  by  decease  of  this  Queen,  in  case  any  country- 
man or  other  would  wrongously  pretend  to  usurp  and  debar  me 
from  the  same. 

Thirdly,  '  Concerning  the  isles  of  Orkne^^  you  may  chuse 
any  man  of  law  that  you  please  ;  for  that  head  must  be  answered, 
and  debated  by  form  of  law.  Always  if  the  marriage  take  effect, 
that  purpose  would  not  be  over  precisely  handled.  It  may  be 
that  my  council  will  give  you  straiter  conditions  ;  but  this  in- 
struction of  mine  you  shall  follow,  let  them  say  what  they  please.' 

I  told  his  Majesty,  that  I  would  chuse  to  take  with  me  for  a 

197 


THE  MEMOIRS  OF 


lawyer  Mr.  John  Skeen.  His  Majesty  said,  he  judged  there  were 
many  better  lawyers.  I  said,  he  was  best  acquainted  with  the 
German  customs,  and  could  make  them  long  harangues  in  Latin  ; 
that  he  was  a  good,  true,  stout  man,  like  a  Dutchman.  Then 
his  Majesty  was  content  that  he  should  go  with  me. 

After  that  I  had  tarried  long  at  court,  and  could  see  no  pre- 
paration for  our  dispatch,  neither  money  nor  ship  making  ready  ; 
the  appointed  time  wherein  we  should  have  been  in  Denmark 
being  past,  to  wit,  before  the  ist  of  May  :  for  it  was  so  ordered 
by  the  King  of  Denmark  ere  he  died,  that  in  case  that  day  was  not 
kept,  that  they  might  think  themselves  but  scoffed.  This  moved 
me  to  employ  my  friends  at  court,  to  cause  another  be  named  in 
my  place,  seeing  so  many  suiting  to  get  the  said  commission. 
And  the  chancellor  gave  me  such  terrors  as  he  could  for  his  part. 

Now  the  earl  Marischal  was  desirous  to  supply  the  place  of  his 
uncle  my  lord  of  Altry  ;  and  his  Majesty  was  content  that  he 
should  be  sent  thither.  Whereupon  I  took  occasion  to  represent 
to  his  Majesty,  that  the  said  earl  was  very  well  qualified  for  that 
employment,  and  that  he  would  go  the  better  contented,  if  he 
might  have  in  commission  with  him  some  of  his  own  friends  and 
acquaintance.  His  Majesty  answered.  That  it  was  his  part  to 
chuse  his  own  ambassadors  ;  that  the  earl  Marischal  should  have 
the  first  place  as  a  nobleman  ;  but  that  he  would  repose  the  chief 
handling  with  the  regent  and  council  of  Denmark  upon  me.  Then 
I  declared,  that  the  appointed  time  was  past,  and  that  yet  there 
was  no  appearance  of  any  preparation  of  money  or  ship  ;  where- 
with his  Majesty  was  very  angry.  I  named  the  laird  of  Barn- 
barrow  or  Mr.  Peter  Young,  as  very  fit  to  be  employed  in  the 
commission  with  the  earl  Marischal,  because  they  had  been  there 
already  :  but  he  would  not  hear  thereof  ;  for  the  blame  had  been 
wrongously  laid  upon  their  insuflSciency,  it  being  alledged,  that 
their  mismanagement  was  the  occasion  that  matters  formerly 
took  not  the  desired  success.  Would  not  this  kind  of  court- 
dealing  scar  any  man  from  meddling  in  such  weighty  matters, 
where  such  men  are  preferred  to  have  the  special  credit  about  a 
prince,  who  mind  only  their  own  designs,  and  not  the  prince's 
advantage  ? 

Those  who  at  present  ordered  affairs,  counselled  his  Majesty 
first  to  send  to  the  Queen  of  England,  and  require  her  advice  and 
consent  to  the  said  marriage  with  Denmark  ;  who  they  knew 
would  not  only  dissuade  him  from  the  said  marriage,  but  also 
stay  him  from  any  marriage,  as  she  and  her  council  had  ever  done 
and  dealt,  both  with  his  mother  and  himself.  When  I  understood 
of  this  new  delay,  I  obtained  licence  to  go  home  to  my  house, 
and  make  me  ready  against  the  next  warning.  In  the  mean  time, 
the  season  of  the  year  was  well  spent.  The  Queen  of  England's 
answer  returned,  not  to  marry  vwith  Denmark.  She  said.  That 
she  had  credit  with  the  King  and  princess  of  Navarre  ;  that  she 
would  employ  the  same  for  effectuating  that  marriage,  which  was 

198 


SIR  JAMES  MELVILLE 


much  more  his  Majest>-'s  interest.  In  the  mean  time  she  did 
write  to  the  King  of  Navarre,  to  hold  back  the  marriage  of  his 
sister  three  years,  for  such  frivolous  pretexts  as  carried  no  reason. 
Upon  this  answer  of  England,  our  council  was  convened,  and 
enticed  to  vote  against  the  marriage  of  Denmark.  Whereat  his 
Majesty  took  such  a  despite,  that  he  caused  one  of  his  most  familiar 
ser\-ants  to  deal  secretly  with  some  of  the  deacons  of  the  crafts- 
men of  Edinburgh,  to  make  a  mutiny  against  the  chancellor  and 
council,  threatning  to  slay  him  in  case  the  marriage  with  the  King 
of  Denmark's  daughter  were  hindred,  or  longer  delayed.  This 
boasting  and  fear  caused  a  new  resolution  to  be  taken,  that  the 
earl  Marischal  should  be  dispatched  with  diligence,  with  the 
constable  of  Dundee,  and  the  lord  Andrew  Keith,  whom  the  said 
earl  requested  his  Majest>'  to  send  with  him.  Which  his  Majesty 
granted  the  more  easily,  because  he  found  so  many  difficulties  in 
the  matter,  and  some  of  my  friends  had  informed  him,  that  it 
would  be  very  satisfactory  to  me  that  some  other  were  employed. 
Now  it  was  yet  a  long  time  before  the  earl  Marischal  could  be 
ready,  and  dispatched.  Then  as  to  his  dealing  with  the  council 
of  Denmark,  his  power  to  conclude  was  so  limited,  and  his  com- 
mission so  slender,  that  he  was  compelled  to  send  back  again  my 
lord  Dingwall,  either  for  a  licence  to  come  home,  or  for  a  sufficient 
power  to  conclude.  Where  it  chanced  that  he  found  his  Majesty' 
at  Aberdeen,  and  the  chancellor  and  most  part  of  the  council 
absent.  W'hich  was  a  great  furtherance  to  get  a  full  power  to 
conclude  the  contract  and  ceremony  of  the  marriage,  by  the  earl 
Marischal  ;  who  was  incontinently  dispatched  by  the  regent  and 
council  of  Denmark,  and  the  Queen  sent  home  with  him  well 
accompanied.  But  the  tempestuous  winds  drave  them  upon  the 
coast  of  Norway,  where  they  landed,  and  stayed  a  long  time  for 
fair  winds  and  weather.  Which  storm  of  wind  was  alledged  to  be 
raised  by  the  witches  of  Denmark,  as  by  sundry  of  them  \yas 
aclmowledged,  when  they  were  for  that  cause  burnt.  That  which 
moved  them  thereto  was,  as  they  said,  a  blow  which  the  admiral 
of  Denmark  gave  to  one  of  the  bayliffs  of  Copenhagen,  whose  wife, 
consulting  with  her  associates  in  that  art,  raised  the  storm,  to  be 
revenged  upon  the  said  admiral. 

His  Majesty  had  heard  that  they  were  upon  the  sea,  and  left 
nothing  undone  to  make  all  in  a  readiness,  to  receive  the  Queen 
and  her  company  honourably  ;  but,  in  the  mean  time,  was  very 
impatient  and  sorrowful  for  her  long  delay,  laying  the  blame 
thereof  upon  the  chancellor,  and  such  other  of  his  council  as  had 
plainly  voted  against  the  said  marriage,  and  thereby  had  delayed 
the  dispatch  of  the  ambassadors  so  long,  until  the  season  of  sailing 
upon  the  seas  was  near  past.  The  storms  were  also  so  great  here, 
that  a  passage-boat  perished  betwixt  Burntisland  and  Leith, 
wherein  was  a  gentlewoman  called  Jean  Kennedy,  who  had  been 
long  in  England  with  the  Queen  his  Majesty's  mother,  and  was 
since  married  to  Sir  Andrew  Melville  of  Garvock  my  brother, 

199 


THE  MEMOIRS  OF 


master  of  his  Majesty's  houshold.  Which  gentlewoman  being 
discreet  and  grave,  was  sent  for  by  his  Majesty  to  be  about  the 
Queen  his  bedfellow.  She  being  desirous  to  make  diligence, 
would  not  by  the  storm  be  stopped  the  sailing  of  the  ferry,  where 
the  vehement  storm  drave  a  ship  forcibly  upon  the  said  boat, 
and  drowned  the  gentlewoman  and  all  the  persons,  except  two. 
This  the  Scottish  witches  confessed  to  his  Majesty  was  procured 
by  them.     In  that  boat  also  I  lost  two  servants. 

Now  his  Majesty  remained  quietly  in  the  castle  of  Craigmillar, 
dissatisfied,  as  said  is,  with  the  greatest  part  of  his  council.  He 
could  neither  sleep  nor  rest.  In  the  mean  time,  he  directed 
colonel  Stuart  to  my  brother  Sir  Robert  and  me,  charging  us  to 
take  care  of  his  mishandled  estate  in  time  coming,  lamenting  that 
he  had  been  abused  by  such  as  formerly  he  had  too  much  trusted 
to,  and  that  he  had  always  found  us  faithful  and  careful  of  his 
welfare.  He  therefore  desired  us  to  sit  down,  and  advise  how  he 
might  best  put  remedy  to  things  bypast,  and  prevent  such  in- 
conveniencies  in  time  coming,  seeing  he  had  determined  hereafter 
to  repose  most  upon  our  council.  Our  answer  to  his  Majesty 
was.  That  we  had  great  reason  to  render  his  Majesty  most  humble 
thanks  for  the  favourable  opinion  he  entertained  of  us,  which  we 
should  endeavour  to  deserve,  and  were  very  sorry  for  the  dis- 
pleasure his  Majesty  had  taken  ;  praying  his  Majesty  to  take 
patience,  seeing  that  as  he  had  always  reposed  upon  God  and  not 
man,  that  the  same  God  would  mend  his  estate,  as  he  had  oft- 
times  done  before  :  that  our  care  should  be  presently,  how  to 
receive  the  Queen  honourably,  who  was  upon  the  sea,  (we  daily 
looking  for  her  landing)  and  next,  how  to  treat  and  reward  the 
noblemen  of  Denmark,  her  Majesty's  convoy  :  That  being  done, 
and  they  returned  back  to  their  country,  it  would  be  best  time  to 
take  order  with  the  affairs  of  the  kingdom,  conform  to  his  Majesty's 
desire,  with  the  concurrence  of  so  many  of  the  council  as  his 
Majesty  had  found  most  faithful,  and  least  factious.  But  we  did 
not  think  fit  to  take  upon  us  the  whole  burden,  in  respect  that 
hath  been  always  the  chief  cause  of  the  wreck  of  Scots  Kings, 
especially  of  all  his  Majesty's  own  troubles,  in  laying  the  whole 
burden  of  his  affairs  upon  any  one  or  two,  who  most  commonly 
for  greediness  and  ambition  abuse  good  princes,  and  few  or  none 
dare  controul  them,  for  fear  of  their  great  authority  and  credit. 

The  chancellor  being  advertised  of  his  Majesty's  discontent  and 
displeasure,  as  said  is,  made  preparation  to  go  off  the  country, 
and  caused  it  to  come  to  his  Majesty's  ears,  that  he  would  sail 
himself  and  bring  home  the  Queen  with  him,  and  that  they  were 
all  but  triflers  who  were  with  her.  He  forgot  not  to  anoint  the 
hands  of  some  who  were  most  familiar  with  his  Majesty,  to  inter- 
pret this  his  design  so  favourably,  that  it  made  the  King  forget 
all  bygones  ;  and,  by  little  and  little,  he  informed  him  so  well  of 
the  said  voyage,  and  the  great  charges  he  had  bestowed  upon  a 
fair  and  swift-sailing  ship,  that  his  Majesty  was  moved  to  take  the 

200 


SIR  JAMES  MELVILLE 


voyage  himself,  and  to  sail  in  the  same  ship  with  the  chancellor, 
with  great  secrecy,  and  short  preparation,  making  no  man  pri\'y 
thereto,  but  such  as  the  chancellor  pleased,  and  such  as  formerly 
had  all  been  upon  his  faction.  He  had  also  heard  an  inkling  of  a 
word,  That  his  Alajesty,  in  the  time  of  his  high  displeasure,  had 
said.  That  he  would  lay  the  burden  of  his  altairs  upon  my  brother 
and  me  ;  whereat  he  had  a  great  en\'y  and  despite,  and  was  the 
cause  why  his  I\Iajest\'  made  me  not  pri\y  to  his  voyage.  He 
was  very  discontent,  when  his  Majesty  had  appointed  my  said 
brother  Robert  to  be  left  vice-chancellor,  and  convene  the  council 
in  his  Majest\-'s  absence,  to  hold  hand  with  the  duke  of  Lenox, 
my  lord  Hamilton,  Bothwell  and  other  noblemen,  with  the  officers 
of  the  crown,  and  to  rule  the  country  in  his  Majesty's  absence. 

Three  other  ships  sailed  with  his  Majesty,  wherein  was  the 
justice-clerk,  Carmichael  the  provost  of  Lincluden,  Sir  William 
Keith,  George  Hume,  James  Sandilands,  with  all  his  Alajesty's 
ordinary  servants.  The  weather  was  rough  enough  ;  for  it  was 
in  the  beginning  of  winter.  But  the  last  day  was  so  extreme 
stormy,  that  they  were  all  in  great  hazard  :  but  his  Majesty  landed 
that  same  night  at  in  Norway,  where  the  Queen  was 

abiding  the  turning  of  the  wind,  and  there  he  accomplished  his 
marriage  in  person.  But  he  could  not  be  persuaded  to  return  to 
Scotland  that  winter,  by  reason  of  the  raging  seas  and  storm  he  had 
sustained  a  little  before. 

The  Queen  and  council  of  Denmark,  being  advertised  that  his 
Majesty  was  resolved  to  abide  all  that  winter,  sent  and  requested 
him  to  come  to  Denmark  :  whither  he  went  by  land,  with  the 
Queen  his  new  bride,  and  behaved  himself  honourably  and  liberally 
by  the  wa^',  and  at  the  court  of  Denmark,  where  he  tarried  during 
his  abode  there. 

But  the  company  who  were  with  his  Majesty  put  him  to  great 
trouble  to  agree  their  continual  janglings,  strife,  pride  and  par- 
tialities. The  earl  Marischal,  by  reason  that  he  was  an  ancient 
earl,  and  had  been  first  employed  in  this  honourable  commission, 
thought  to  have  the  first  place  next  unto  his  Majesty,  so  long  as  he 
was  there.  The  chancellor,  by  reason  of  his  office,  would  needs 
have  the  pre-eminence.  There  were  also  contentions  betwixt  him 
and  the  justice-clerk.  The  constable  of  Dundee  and  my  lord 
Dingwall  could  not  agree  about  place.  George  Hume  did  quietly 
shoot  out  William  Keith  from  his  office  of  master  of  the  wardrobe. 
At  length  they  were  all  divided  into  two  factions  ;  the  one  for  the 
earl  Marischal  ;  the  other  for  the  chancellor,  who  was  the  stronger, 
because  the  King  took  his  part  :  so  that  the  chancellor  triumphed, 
and,  being  yet  in  Denmark,  devised  many  reformations  to  be  made, 
and  new  forms  and  customs  to  be  set  forward  at  his  Majesty's 
return  ;  as,  To  have  no  privy  council  but  the  exchequer,  and  the 
nobility  to  be  debarred  from  it  ;  sundry  of  the  lords  of  the  session 
to  be  put  out,  who  he  judged  had  no  dependence  upon  him,  and 
others  his  creatures  put  in  their  room.     He  caused  a  proclamation 

201 


THE  MEMOIRS  OF 


to  be  penn'd,  which  was  sent  home  to  be  proclaimed  before  his 
Majesty's  return,  That  none  of  the  nobility  should  come  to  court 
not  being  sent  for,  and  then  to  bring  with  them  six  persons  and 
no  more  :  likewise  every  baron  to  bring  but  four.  Likewise  he 
resolved  to  cause  ward  such  as  had  been  unruly  and  disobedient 
during  his  Alajesty's  absence,  as  the  earl  Bothwell,  the  lord  Hume, 
and  divers  borderers  and  highlandmen. 

The  next  spring  his  Majesty  came  home,  and  landed  at  Leith, 
well  accompanied  with  the  admiral  of  Denmark,  and  divers  of  the 
council  and  many  other  gentlemen.  All  whom  his  Majesty  treated 
honourably  ;  and  after  the  Queen's  coronation,  they  were 
magnificently  rewarded  with  more  than  twelve  golden  chains, 
and  many  medals  of  gold  with  his  Majesty's  picture. 

His  Majest}^  at  his  landing,  was  pleased  to  send  to  me  to  bear 
them  company  ;  which  I  did  until  their  parting,  to  his  Majesty's 
great  contentment. 

In  the  mean  time  the  earl  of  Worcester  was  sent  ambassador 
from  England,  to  welcome  and  congratulate  both  their  Majesties 
with  some  presents  unto  the  Queen's  Majesty.  Upon  whom  I 
was  commanded  by  his  Majesty  to  attend  diligently  all  the  time 
of  his  being  here,  and  at  his  parting  he  was  presented  with  a  ring 
of  seven  great  diamonds.  He  parted  well  satisfied,  and  so  did  all 
his  company. 

His  Majesty  was  pleased  at  leisure  to  declare  unto  me  his  whole 
voyage,  and  proceedings  during  his  absence.  He  said.  That  he 
wished  that  I  had  been  sent  alone  ambassador  to  Denmark,  in 
place  of  the  earl  Marischal,  and  the  two  who  were  joined  with 
him  ;  he  was  so  ill  informed  of  the  said  earl.  I  answered,  That 
I  understood  that  the  earl  for  his  part  had  behaved  himself  very 
honourably  and  discreetly,  as  the  admiral  of  Denmark  and  divers 
of  the  company  had  informed  me.  But  his  Majesty  had  been  so 
possessed  with  the  chancellor's  misinformation,  that  for  the  time 
he  believed  it.  He  said  further  to  me.  That  he  had  greater  trouble 
to  keep  good  order  among  the  few  company  that  was  in  Denmark, 
than  my  brother  Sir  Robert  had  to  keep  quiet  all  Scotland,  during 
his  absence.  Which  praise  my  brother  indeed  deserved  ;  for  he 
had  such  favour  and  credit  among  the  nobility,  barons,  and 
boroughs,  that  they  followed  his  advice,  believing  that  he  would 
not  say  but  the  truth  in  his  Majesty's  name,  and  that  he  would  give 
no  misinformation  against  them  at  his  home-coming.  But  the 
chancellor  envied  my  brother  for  the  great  opinion  his  Majesty 
had  of  him,  though  he  had  been  the  greatest  instrument  of  bringing 
the  chancellor  into  court  with  his  Majesty  first,  when  his  Majesty 
past  to  his  liberty  at  St.  Andrew's  ;  and  afterwards  of  getting  him 
the  keeping  of  the  great  seal,  and  in  effect  of  making  him  chancellor 
since.  The  chancellor  remembred  also  of  his  Majesty's  de- 
liberation before  his  going  to  Denmark,  and  the  direction  he  had 
sent  by  colonel  Stuart  to  my  brother  and  me  :  which  the  chan- 
cellor now  went  about  to  prevent,  by  taking  occasion  to  calumniate 

202 


SIR  JAMES  MELVILLE 


my  brother  in  his  absence,  because  he  was  not  present  in  the  time, 
when  there  was  to  do  with  his  office  to  furnish  some  Uttle 
necessaries  to  the  strangers  ;  he  having  been  sent  for  to  visit  his 
wife  lying  at  the  point  of  death  in  Burntisland.  The  chancellor 
told  his  Majesty,  That  during  his  Majestj-'s  absence,  he  used  every 
Saturday  so  to  do,  tarrying  three  or  four  days,  neglecting  the 
common  affairs  of  the  country  :  and  that  it  was  the  clerk-register, 
Alexander  Hay,  who  had  done  all  the  good  offices,  which  were 
alledged  to  have  been  done  by  Sir  Robert.  Whereby  he  kindled 
up  so  the  King's  anger  against  him,  that  he  threatned  to  ward 
him,  and  take  his  office  from  him,  six  days  after  he  was  so  much 
praised  for  the  great  and  faithful  services  he  had  done.  So  ill 
handled  oft-times  are  good  princes,  and  faithful  servants,  by 
crafty  calumnies.  But  his  Majesty  being  thereafter  fully  in- 
formed of  the  matter,  soon  repented  his  anger,  and  converted  the 
same  against  the  said  chancellor  upon  another  occasion. 

There  was  emulation  betwixt  the  council  and  the  chancellor. 
The  council  complaining.  That  the  chancellor  was  the  deviser  of 
all  the  wrongs  that  were  done,  by  causing  his  Majesty  to  subscribe 
sundry  hurtful  signatures  and  commissions,  getting  them  past  for 
himself  and  his  friends,  taking  thus  the  best  and  most  profitable 
casualties  to  himself  and  his  dependers. 

The  chancellor  again  endeavoured  to  have  the  most  part  of  the 
council  at  his  devotion  ;  or  such,  who  would  not  be  in  all  things 
ruled  by  him,  changed,  and  others  placed  in  their  room,  who 
would  have  more  dependence  upon  him.  Whereupon  the  council 
consulted,  and  concluded  together,  to  cast  the  chancellor.  Yet 
one  of  the  council,  who  had  a  matter  of  great  moment  to  be  dis- 
patched, to  curry  favour  with  the  chancellor,  discovers  the  design 
to  him,  who,  having  that  knowledge  thereof  before  hand,  had  the 
opportunity-  of  preventing  the  enterprize,  as  to  the  effect  designed. 
Yet  at  his  first  coming  to  speak  with  his  Majesty,  he  rebuked  him 
very  sorely.  And  leaving  him,  he  took  me  by  the  hand,  saying, 
I  am  the  worst  handled  prince  in  the  world,  as  I  shall  shew  you 
to-morrow  ;  for  now  when  I  go  to  bed,  I  desire  not  to  enter  upon 
so  melancholy  subjects  so  late  :  therefore  send  for  your  brother, 
and  at  his  coming  I  shall  declare  unto  you  both  more  of  my  mind. 
I  cannot  forget  an  expression  of  yours,  '  That  it  is  the  greatest  art 
in  the  world  to  be  true.' 

At  my  brother's  coming,  we  found  that  the  only  cause  was, 
that  the  chancellor,  and  some  with  him,  would  have  ruined  those 
who  were  his  Majesty's  truest  friends.  Yet  my  brother,  finding 
it  his  Majesty's  interest,  took  up  the  matter  betwixt  the  council  and 
the  chancellor,  to  his  Majest^''s  great  contentment. 

After  the  coronation  of  the  Queen's  Majesty,  and  banqueting 
and  rewarding  the  strangers,  and  that  they  returned  home  well 
contented  ;  there  was  another  convention  appointed,  for  taking 
order  with  the  affairs  of  the  country.  To  the  which  many  noble- 
men and  barons  were  written  for  ;   but  very  few  obeyed  the  said 

203 


THE  MEMOIRS  OF 


letters,  or  would  come  near  the  court  :  because  when  they  were 
first  written  for  to  the  Queen's  coronation,  they  judged  themselves 
slighted  ;  for  hall,  chamber,  and  all  doors  were  so  straitly  shut  and 
undiscreetly  kept,  that  they  could  get  no  entry.  Therefore  many 
of  them  returned  discontent  to  their  houses  ;  for  there  was  no  man 
appointed  to  welcome  them,  or  to  direct  them,  except  so  many  as 
were  made  knights.  Which  was  the  cause  that  so  few  came  again 
to  court,  the  next  time  when  they  were  written  for.  Those  who 
had  been  lately  in  Denmark  with  his  Majesty,  thought  to  retain 
him  and  the  whole  government  in  their  hands,  and  had  given  his 
Majesty  council  not  to  be  over  familiar,  nor  of  too  easy  access. 
That  none  should  be  permitted  to  enter  his  chamber,  but  such  as 
were  gentlemen  of  his  chamber,  with  the  chancellor,  and  some 
of  the  council.  They  were  not  content  to  have  the  whole  access, 
and  only  handling  at  all  other  times,  but  even  also  at  the  con- 
ventions, they  continually  occupied  his  Majesty's  ear  in  presence 
of  the  whole  assembly,  there'oy  to  let  their  great  credit  be  seen, 
that  they  might  be  courted  by  such  as  had  to  do  with  the  King. 
None  of  them  all  had  more  occasion  of  occupying  his  Majesty's 
ear,  than  I  had  at  that  time.  Yet  when  it  would  please  him  to  call 
upon  me,  to  know  how  every  stranger  was  treated  and  satisfied, 
and  to  be  informed  about  other  things  ;  I  would  give  him  a  short 
answer,  and  instantly  retire.  Which  was  perceived  by  many  of  the 
nobility  and  barons  who  were  come  to  the  convention  ;  in  the 
which  sundry  necessary  reformations  were  intended,  though 
nothing  was  performed  :  which  was  the  more  complained  of, 
because  every  man  was  in  expectation  to  see  a  settled  estate  at  his 
Majesty's  home-coming,  by  reason  of  his  Majesty's  promise  made 
publickly  in  the  high  kirk  of  Edinburgh,  to  be  a  new  man,  and  to 
take  up  another  kind  of  care  and  doing  in  his  own  person,  than 
ever  had  been  seen  or  used  before.  Which  certainly  his  Majesty 
was  very  willing  to  have  put  in  execution  ;  but  also  he  lacked 
help  and  assistance  :  for  such  as  he  reposed  most  upon,  had  no 
further  care  of  his  affairs,  than  as  they  found  could  best  serve  their 
own  particular  profit,  and  advancement  to  such  ambitious  aims 
as  they  shot  at  ;  making  his  Majesty  in  the  mean  time  believe, 
that  all  was  well  ruled  and  ordered.  The  contrary  being  too 
manifest,  moved  me  to  present  unto  his  Majesty  some  memorials 
and  informations  concerning  his  estate  and  government  ;  the 
most  part  whereof  I  had  set  down  in  writing,  after  that  colonel 
Stuart  had  brought  commission  from  his  Majesty  to  my  brother 
Sir  Robert  and  me,  before  his  Majesty's  voyage  to  bring  home  the 
Queen,  during  the  time  that  he  was  in  great  vexation  in  Craig- 
millar,  and  discontent  with  the  chancellor,  and  such  as  were  his 
dependers  in  the  council,  who  had  been  hinderers  of  his  marriage. 
For  at  that  time  he  had  desired  my  said  brother  and  me  to  sit  down 
and  advise  upon  some  good  rules  for  the  establishing  of  some  good 
order  in  his  country  ;   the  copy  whereof  was  as  followeth. 


204 


SIR  JAMES  MELVILLE 


SIR, 

YOur  Majesty's  happy  return  hath  greatly  rejoyced  your 
"  whole  subjects.  The  expectation  they  have  had  of 
"  you  ever  since  your  birth,  hath  been  great,  both  far 
"  and  near.  Your  pubhck  promise  to  take  upon  you  a  more 
"  kingly  care  since  your  home-coming,  through  greater  experience, 
"  hath  augmented  a  good  hope  of  a  gracious  government.  Your 
"  religion  pure  and  clean,  your  zeal  to  godliness  and  justice,  your 
"  chaste  and  sincere  life,  your  promptitude  to  suppress  rebellions 
"  when  they  arise,  ravisheth  the  hearts  of  most  part  of  your  sub- 
"  jects  to  love  you,  and  esteem  you  the  best  King  that  hath  been  • 
"  these  many  years  in  this  realrii.  And  yet  they  all  marvel  with 
"  stupified  minds,  to  see  your  affairs  so  unluckily  handled,  com- 
"  plaining  that  your  country  was  never  in  greater  disorder  ;  the 
"  Kirk  never  worse  contented,  their  dissatisfaction  influencing 
"  the  W'hole  Kingdom  ;  your  house  so  evil  at  a  point  ;  the  nobility 
"  so  divided  ;  the  barons  were  never  in  greater  poverty  ;  the 
"  commons  never  more  oppressed  ;  never  more  taxations  raised, 
"  mostly  applied  to  the  utility  of  private  persons  ;  never  more 
"  parliaments  holden  ;  never  more  laws  broken  ;  your  pro- 
"  clamations  and  missives  no  ways  obeyed  ;  never  was  murder 
"  and  blood-shed  more  increased,  than  since  your  home-coming, 
"  and  publick  promise  of  better  government. 

"  Therefore,  Sir,  as  in  a  perillous  storm  upon  the  sea,  or  to 
"  quench  sudden  kindled  fire  on  the  land,  every  man's  help  is 
"  requisite  and  acceptable  ;  so  I  hope  your  Majesty's  clemency 
"  will  consider,  and  your  prudence  will  take  in  good  part,  this  my 
"  dutiful  declaration  and  admonition,  the  boldlier  enterprized 
"  under  the  warrant  of  your  favourable  alliance,  following  your 
"  commandment  before  your  Majesty's  going  to  Denmark,  that 
"  my  brother  and  I  should  set  down  the  causes  of  the  evil  and 
"  disorders  that  have  been,  and  yet  are  in  the  kingdom,  with  the 
"  meetest  remedies  for  reforming  and  amending  the  same. 

"  There  be  three  chief  causes  of  all  these  evils  and  disorders. 

"  The  First  is  concerning  God's  service. 

"  The  Second  is  concerning  your  own  estate,  and  the  provision 
"  of  your  house, 

"  The  Third,  concerning  the  policy  and  right  management  of 
"  the  country. 

"  As  concerning  the  service  of  God  neglected  by  our  sins,  and 
"  carelessness  in  setting  forth  his  glory,  it  should  be  redressed  and 
"  amended  by  humble  repentance,  and  amendment  of  life,  and 
"  good  example  first  in  your  own  person,  upon  whose  carriage 
"  every  man's  eye  is  fixed,  as  the  head  to  rule  the  rest  of  the 
"  members,  with  religion,  justice,  prudence,  temperance  and 
"  fortitude. 

P  205 


THE  MEMOIRS  OF 


"  Chiefly  by  religion  and  justice  have  all  commonwealths  been 
ruled  ;  so  that  such  countries  as  wanted  the  knowledge  of  the 
true  religion,  seeing  the  great  works  that  God  brought  to  pass 
by  his  own  peculiar  people  observing  his  religion,  they  invented 
religions.  Thus  thinking  to  imitate  the  Jews,  they  fell  into 
idolatry  and  superstition  ;  yet  they  straitly  observed  their  said 
invented  religions,  and  caused  to  punish  with  death  such  as 
despised  or  spoke  against  the  same.  Far  more  should  your 
Majesty  be  careful  to  advance  the  true  religion,  and  to  see  the 
same  reverenced  and  observed.  And  for  that  effect  should 
devout  and  discreet  ministers  be  chosen,  whose  christian  lives 
may  preach  as  well  as  their  doctrine  :  and  such  ought  to  be 
provided  with  sufficient  local  stipends,  neither  too  much,  to 
entice  them  to  avarice  ;  nor  too  little,  to  make  them  indigent, 
and  give  them  ground  in  their  preachings  to  cry  out  of  poverty  ; 
in  such  sort  as  they  may  have  no  occasion  yearly  to  leave  their 
flocks,  to  come  and  make  suit  for  their  living,  with  great  pain 
and  expences,  as  they  do  presently. 

"  Divers  are  the  causes  of  the  disorders  in  your  court  and 
house-officers,  and  servants  :  For  they  are  not  chosen  for  their 
qualities,  but  at  the  instance  of  this  and  that  friend,  or  courtier. 
Then  the  number  of  all  sorts  of  servants  are  not  limited,  by 
placing  about  your  Majesty  so  many  as  are  needful,  but  an 
extraordinary  number  ;  whereas  two  in  every  office  are  enough. 
And  then  your  prudence  will  be  best  known,  when  you  shall  be 
seen  to  make  good  elections  of  fit  persons  for  every  occupation  : 
for  the  prince  is  ever  esteemed  to  be  like  unto  those  sort  of 
servants,  he  likes  best  to  be  about  him.  Much  consists  in  this, 
to  have  in  court  discreet,  modest  courtiers,  such  as  are  not 
covetous,  nor  unmeasurably  ambitious.  Nothing  wins  more 
the  hearts  of  the  people  to  the  prince  :  for  so  long  as  they  see 
about  him  such  persons,  they  are  out  of  fear  of  being  unmeasur- 
ably burdened.  When  they  see  men  who  are  not  greedy,  nor 
prodigal  spenders  of  the  prince's  estate,  nor  their  own,  nor 
stirrers  up  of  the  prince  to  take  mens  lives  for  their  lands  ;  they 
are  in  hope  that  every  man  may  live  upon  his  own,  and  the  prince 
also  upon  his  proper  patrimony.  Therefore  should  the  officers 
of  the  exchequer  be  true  and  honest  men  ;  and  the  prince  should 
be  frequently  present  himself,  and  hear  his  own  compts  :  for 
few  dare  controul,  or  find  fault  with  the  wrong  compts  of  his 
officers,  or  great  courtiers.  Which  I  have  oft-times  found 
fault  with,  when  upon  the  exchequer,  though  afterward  to  my 
great  prejudice. 

"  The  causes  why  the  patrimony  of  the  crown  is  so  diminished, 
is  because  your  Majesty's  predecessors  disposed  much  to  the 
church,  for  devotion  ;  and  to  the  noblemen  and  barons,  for 
good  service.  And  when  princes  were  careless  to  prevent 
rebellions,  occasioned  by  their  mis-government,  they  were 
compelled  to  buy  the  assistance  of  some,  by  disposition  of 

2o6 


SIR  JAMES  MELVILLE 


lands,  to  help  to  suppress  their  unnatural  subjects.  Which 
inconvenience  their  careful  and  provident  government  might 
have  prevented  and  eschewed. 

"  Your  ]\Iajest\'  also,  out  of  your  noble  and  princely  disposition, 
disponed  liberally  unto  divers  greedy  and  importunate  persons, 
during  your  minority,  divers  lands  and  rents,  which  would  have 
stood  in  great  stead  to  the  entertainment  of  your  house.  And 
you  heaped  gift  upon  gift  to  a  sort  of  greedy  cravers,  and  that 
by  the  persuasions  of  such  as  had  your  ear,  and  not  to  those 
who  deserved  best  at  your  hands.  Now  the  officers  of  the 
chequer  being  well  chosen,  as  said  is,  the  rent-masters,  and  their 
officers  who  are  accountable,  must  be  responsible  men  ;  neither 
too  mean,  nor  too  great  men,  or  courtiers,  but  such  as  dare  be 
controuled,  and  whom  people  will  not  fear  to  offend.  All 
vacant  benefices  and  casualties  should  be  retained  in  your  own 
hands,  till  you  see  what  you  m^ay  spare. 

"  Then  the  best  part  of  the  property  lies  in  the  Highlands, 
where  neither  God  nor  the  King  is  served  or  obeyed.  Your 
rents  may  be  redoubled,  if  the  Highlands  and  the  Islands  were 
reduced,  as  was  done  by  your  grandfather  King  James  V.  For 
the  Kings  of  Scotland  were  never  rich,  since  they  left  the  High- 
lands and  the  Isles  to  dwell  in  the  Lowlands  :  for  since  that, 
their  rents  have  been  diminished,  and  their  superfluous  expences 
increased,  at  the  unruly  example  of  other  neighbour  nations. 
"  Then  your  Majesty^'s  parks  would  be  put  to  profit,  and  re- 
plenished ;  which  will  be  found  a  necessary  help  to  the  keeping 
of  your  house.  The  rest  of  your  store-grounds,  lying  in  the  far 
south-parts,  are  in  such  hands  as  it  is  not  fit  to  meddle  with 
them  yet  ;  but  some  yearly  number  of  wedders  will  be  easily 
granted  by  them  who  possess  presently  the  said  store-grounds. 
"  Also  the  forbidden  goods  that  go  yearly  out  of  Scotland,  if 
they  were  stayed  and  taken  according  to  acts  of  parliament, 
would  be  very  profitable. 

"  The  best  means  to  bring  these  good  purposes  to  pass,  is  a 
princely,  prudent  and  gracious  government  :  which  is  easiest 
brought  to  pass,  when  the  prince  corrects  himself,  before  he 
corrects  his  subjects  ;  for  they  will  be  soon  subdued  to  his  will, 
when  they  see  the  same  made  subject  unto  reason  :  for  being 
subject  unto  reason,  the  prince  hath  conquered  himself,  the 
readiest  means  to  conquer  the  hearts  of  all  his  subjects  ;  their 
hearts  being  conquered,  the  country  is  easily  conquered  ;  the 
country  being  conquered,  the  prince  may  plant  and  establish 
good  order  there  at  his  pleasure. 

"  Theopompus  being  demanded,  what  way  a  King  might  best 
rule  his  realm  ?  answered,  in  giving  liberty  to  those  who  love 
to  tell  him  the  truth. 

"  The  senate  of  Rome,  writing  unto  Trajan,  excuseth  princes 
to  be  negligent  in  many  things,  not  so  much  for  that  they  have 
not  desire  to  foresee,  as  because  few  or  none  dare  warn  them  of 

207 


THE  MEMOIRS  OF 


'  the  truth  ;  and  says  moreover,  that  it  belongs  to  good  princes 
'  rather  to  have  regard  to  the  benefit  of  their  country,  than  to  the 
'  dehghts  of  their  person  ;  and  rather  to  follow  such  exercises 
'  as  will  increase  their  reputation,  than  only  to  be  taken  up  with 
'  their  pastime  ;  that  they  should  be  sparing  in  speeches,  and 
'  prodigal  in  deeds. 

"  Plutarch  saith  to  the  same  Trajan,  If  thy  government  answer 
'  not  the  expectation  of  thy  people,  thou  must  necessarily  be 
'  subject  to  many  dangers.  He  said  further.  That  princes  should 
'  rule  well,  if  they  be  thankful  to  the  great  God,  and  if  they  should 
'  be  patient  in  chances  of  fortune,  and  diligent  in  execution, 
'  careful  of  their  affairs  in  dangers,  mild  to  the  people,  tractable 
'  to  strangers,  not  covetuous  of  riches,  nor  lovers  of  their  own 

opinions  and  desires  ;  for  then  the  burden  of  their  office  will  be 

easy  unto  them.  As  God  is  the  ruler  and  spirit  of  the  world  ; 
'  so  ought  princes  to  rule  and  be  the  spirit  of  their  country, 
'  The  heaven,  the  earth,  the  sea  and  all  the  elements,  obey  God's 
'  ordinance  by  the  strength  of  his  continual  motion  and  pro- 
'  vidence  ;  so  should  the  prince  who  is  God's  place-holder,  by 
'  continual  care,  providence,  and  motion,  cause  every  lieutenant, 
'  minister,  magistrate,  judge,  officer,  and  sheriffs  to  keep  their 
'  due  course  in  their  vocation.  For  the  which  effect,  it  may 
'  please  your  Majesty  to  consider  the  nature,  and  wrong  kind  of 
'  Scottish  government,  by  a  continual  long  corrupted  custom. 

"  Scotland  is  indeed  hereditary,  and  a  monarchy  ;  yet  among 
'  all  other  monarchical  kingdoms,  it  is  oftest  out  of  tune,  by  the 
"  sloth  and  carelessness  of  princes,  the  unruliness  and  sturdiness 
'  of  the  subjects,  and  the  great  number  of  the  nobility  :  as  also 
'  by  reason  of  the  great  cumbersome  clans,  so  ready  to  concur 
'  together,  and  to  rebel  for  the  defence  of  any  of  their  name,  or 
'  to  revenge  the  just  execution  of  some  of  them  for  murder, 
'  slaughter,  theft,  or  such  other  crimes.  For  our  King,  wanting 
'  hired  soldiers  remaining  in  garisons,  as  other  monarchs  have, 
'  may  not  at  all  occasions  punish  and  redress  such  wrongs  and 
'  disorders  ;  except  they  have  by  wisdom  and  virtue  conquered 
'  their  own  passions,  opinions  and  desires,  and  by  the  same  means 
'  ravished  the  hearts  of  the  most  and  best  part  of  the  subjects, 
'  to  assist  them  with  heart  and  hand  to  suppress  the  rebels,  and 
'  to  punish  the  offenders.  Such  Kings  again  as  endeavour  to 
'  command  absolutely,  not  caring  for  the  hearts  of  their  subjects  ; 
'  their  proclamation  may  well  be  outwardly  obeyed  with  their 
'  bodies,  but  they  will  never  help  the  prince  in  time  of  need,  save 
'  only  to  help  to  ruin  him.  There  is  nothing  more  dangerous  for 
'  a  Scots  King  that  hath  not  the  love  of  his  subjects,  than  when  a 
'  great  number  are  convened  together  ;  for  at  such  times  they  use 
'  to  take  sudden  consultations  to  put  order  to  the  prince,  and  his 
'  familiar  minions.  Of  these  two  sort  of  Kings,  the  first  is  more 
'  than  a  monarch  ;  and  the  last  less  than  elective.  Of  the  first, 
'  in  Scotland  too  few  have  reign'd  ;    and  of  the  last  too  many  : 

208 


SIR  JAMES  MELVILLE 


"  which  is  the  cause  that  the  country  is  not  conquered  to  the  lawful 
"  Kings.  Which  is  also  the  .  ause  that  the  corrupt  customs  and 
"  disorders  have  lasted  so  long,  and  are  not  to  be  remedied,  until 
"  it  please  God  to  send  three  such  Kings  as  I  have  named  of  the 
"  best  sort,  granting  them  long  life,  each  one  to  succeed  after 
"  other.  I  pray  God  grant  that  your  Majesty  be  the  first  of  the 
"  three.  But  it  appears  your  Majesty  is  not  well  advised,  while 
"  you  are  creating  more  noblemen,  making  them  thereby  the 
'*  stronger  ;  whereas  divers  other  princes  endeavoured  to  make 
"  them  lower  and  fewer  :  by  reason  of  the  old  emulation  which 
"  hath  lasted  between  the  Kings  of  Scotland  and  their  nobility, 
"  the  Kings  to  command  absolutely  as  sovereign  monarchs  ;  the 
"  nobles  to  withstand  their  absolute  power,  sometimes  by  secret 
"  and  indirect  means,  and  oft-times  by  plain  resistance  and  force. 
"  Hence  but  few  wise,  virtuous  and  potent  Kings,  or  sovereign 
"  monarchs  who  have  obtained  the  mastery  ;  whereas  there  have 
"  many  careless,  slothful  and  simple  princes,  that  have  ruled  by 
"  wicked  counsellors,  and  have  commonly  been  brought  to 
*'  ignominious  ends.  The  good  and  worthy  prince  took  upon  him 
"  more  or  less  absolute  power  and  authority,  as  he  found  himself 
"  able  by  assistance,  substance,  and  alliance  ;  or  as  he  found  his 
"  nobility  feeble,  foolish,  and  divided. 

"  England  believes  itself  to  be  in  the  better  estate,  by  shedding 
"  the  blood  of  their  nobility,  and  debarring  them  from  the  council, 
"  and  handling  of  the  prince's  affairs  ;  Scotland  contrariwise,  by 
"  sparing  the  blood  of  the  nobility  and  barons,  and  by  making 
*'  them  partakers  of  honours  and  offices.  For  the  way  of  taking 
"  the  life  of  a  nobleman  or  baron,  breeds  an  hundred  enemies 
"  more  or  less,  according  to  the  greatness  of  the  clan  or  surname  ; 
"  of  which  some  will  ly  at  wait  to  be  revenged,  albeit  long  after, 
"  as  they  can  find  their  opportunity.  For  the  nobility  being  so 
"  numerous,  by  long  evil  custom  they  esteem  themselves  to  be 
"  born  counsellors  ;  and  yet  will  not  remain  at  court,  nor  upon 
"  the  council,  unless  it  be  at  conventions,  or  for  some  particular 
"  profit.  And  if  the  prince  intend  to  rule  without  them,  they  use 
"  to  make  sudden  enterprizes  against  him  and  his  familiars,  with 
"  the  which  tragedies  the  chronicles  are  filled.  Then  after  such 
"  a  violent  alteration,  they  find  themselves  odious  to  the  prince, 
"  so  that  they  commonly  seek  to  be  masters  over  him  from  that 
"  time  forth,  lest  he  should,  when  he  sees  a  fit  time,  take  his 
"  revenge  for  their  contempt. 

"  It  is  not  best  then  to  debar  your  nobility  from  being  upon 
"  your  council,  but  grant  place  to  a  number  of  the  wisest  of  them, 
"  whereof  they  will  soon  be  weary,  and  retire  when  their  purses 
"  begin  to  grow  empty.  Thus  they  will  want  occasion  to  grudge 
"  or  rebel. 

"  It  is  meet  also  to  gain  by  good  deeds  part  of  the  worthiest 
"  of  your  nobility  ;  which  may  be  a  means  to  keep  the  rest  from 

209 


THE  MEMOIRS  OF 


*'  rebellion,  when  they  see  so  many  of  their  number  daily  about 
"  you,  and  in  your  favour. 

"  Princes  are  by  Homer  called  Pastors  ;  by  the  Romans, 
*'  Fathers  of  the  country.  None  can  be  answerable  to  such 
"  honourable  names,  without  extreme  diligence,  and  fatherly  care 
"  to  see  every  officer  about  his  duty,  and  strait  account  taken  how 
*'  they  discharge  the  same,  rewarding  well-doers,  and  punishing 
"  offenders  ;  reward  and  punishment  being  the  pillars  v/here- 
"  upon  the  commonwealth  stands.  Especially  take  care  the  first 
"  year  of  your  marriage  ;  for  the  reputation  obtained  the  first 
"  year  will  last  long  afterward,  whether  it  be  good  or  evil. 

"  Be  earnest  and  liberal  to  get  good  intelligence,  as  well  of  your 
"  neighbours  estate  as  your  own  ;  of  the  grievances  of  your  sub- 
"  jects,  and  their  partialities  and  feuds  ;  which  will  open  your 
"  eyes  to  see  sundry  outgates  in  matters  of  state. 

"  Give  familiar  access  to  your  nobility  and  barons,  when  they 
"  come  ;  chiefly  to  all  such  who  are  written  for  to  your  con- 
"  ventions.  Give  open  audience,  once  every  week  at  least,  to 
"  rich  and  poor,  receiving  their  supplications  and  complaints, 
"  with  strict  command  to  the  council  and  master  of  requests  to 
"  give  them  answer  with  sudden  dispatch. 

"  Cause  to  reform  the  superfluity  of  clothing  and  banqueting, 
*'  as  well  by  your  example  as  commandment. 

"  Now  supposing  your  Majesty  to  be  ripe  fruit,  and  no  more 
"  green,  I  hope  your  dear  bought  experience  hath  made  you  apt 
"  enough  to  receive  all  profitable  impressions  presented  to  your 
"  Majesty  by  your  faithful  proved  servants,  and  not  to  commit 
"  so  easily  the  w^eighty  charge  of  your  aff'airs  to  any  one,  or  two, 
"  or  three  ;  seeing  the  same  may  have  been  clearly  observed  to 
"  tend  highly  to  the  prejudice  of  such,  who  have  been,  through 
*'  flattery  or  otherwise,  induced  to  follow  such  courses.  Such 
"  minions  have  been  always  observed  to  shoot  at  their  own  marks, 
"  not  valuing  the  endangering  of  the  estate  of  the  prince,  so  that 
"  they  gain  their  own  ends,  by  enriching  themselves  and  their 
"  dependers. 

"  No  man  will  think  strange,  that,  during  your  younger  years, 
"  you  have  been  pressed  and  persuaded  to  lay  the  burden  of  your 
"  affairs  off  yourself  upon  others,  who  greedily  courted  that 
"  weighty  charge  above  their  capacity,  wanting  care,  knowledge 
"  and  ability  to  bear  it.  But  now  every  man  will  marvel,  if  you 
"  should  commit  such  a  gross  error  in  your  perfect  age  ;  thinking 
"  that  your  pregnant  ingeny,  excellent  memorj',  and  hurtful 
"  experience,  may  compel  you  to  exercise  the  office  of  a  King 
"  in  your  own  person.  For  whence  hath  proceeded  so  many 
"  attempts,  so  many  enterprizes,  so  many  times  the  taking  of 
*'  your  Majesty's  person,  so  many  alterations  and  changes  of  court- 
"  servants,  counsellors  and  laws,  but  by  committing  the  charge 
*'  and  keeping  of  your  sheep,  and  subjects,  to  certain  ambitious 
"  and  ravenous  wolves,  who  chose  to  bring  into  court,  for  their 

2IO 


SIR  JAMES  MELVILLE 


'  assistance,  such  as  they  knew  to  be  of  their  own  qualities,  that 
'  they  might  conquer  together,  first  how  to  put  out  of  your 
'  favour,  and  debar  froni  your  ear,  all  such  honest  true  persons 
'  as  would  oppose  their  pernicious  proceedings,  that  so  your 
'  Alajestj'  might  neither  see  nor  understand,  but  by  their  eyes  and 
'  ears  ?  Your  Majesty  can  well  enough  remember,  how  oft  for 
'  my  part  I  have  forewarned  you  of  the  storms  which  were  to  fall 
'  out,  through  the  misbehaviour  of  such  insolent,  such  inconstant, 
'  such  scornful  and  such  partial  persons,  as  have  oftest  possessed 
'  your  ear,  and  carried  the  vogue  in  your  court.  And  what  I 
'  thereby  gained  to  myself,  your  Majesty  knows.  Yet,  however 
'  disadvantageous  to  my  own  particular  interest  was  that  manner 
'  cf  procedure,  I  had  this  comfort,  that  your  Majesty  confessed 
'  that  I  had  shewn  you  the  verity  :  but  the  said  confession  was  ay 
'  behind  the  time,  with  over  late  repentance. 

"  Here  your  Alajesty  may  reproach  me  of  inconstant  councils  ; 

'  because,  one  year  after  your  returning  from  Denmark,  I  told  you 

'  that  your  subjects  were  not  satisfied  of  their  expectations,  nor 

'  of  your  publick  promises ;  praying  your  Majesty  yet  to  begin, 

'  and  either  be  at  that  pains  which  is  requisite  to  a  right  governing 

'  King,  or  else  to  submit  the  whole  burden  of  your  affairs  to  such 

'  a  number  as  I  should  name,  only  for  one  year.     In  doing  of 

'  any  of  these  two,  I  engaged  that  you  should  find  your  estate 

sufficiently  settled  at  the  year's  end.     Then  it  pleased  your 

IMajesty  to  demand  of  me,  the  manner  that  I  would  wish  you 

to  rule  after  ?     Whereimto  I  made  answer.  That  it  did  not 

iiecome  me,  or  any  in  Scotland  to  shew  you  the  duty  of  a  King, 

which  you  could  declare  better  than  any  of  your  council,  seeing 

you  coulJ  exercise  the  said  office  as  well  as  any  King  in  Europe, 

if  you  were  pleased  only  for  one  year  to  take  the  pains  to  do  it 

yourself.     In  so  doing,  I  supposed  that  before  the  end  of  it, 

there  should  ensue  such  profitable  effects,  as  you  should  find 

the  government  pleasant,  and  no  more  painful  ;   by  the  which 

means  your  Majesty  should  eschew  the  reproach  of  the  poet, 

in  one  of  his  sayings  in  French, 

Je  hay,  dit  il,  entre  les  hommes  ceux 
Qui  sont  espris  d'un  vouloir  paresseux, 
Et  tousiours  semblent  s'on  s'y  fye 
Practiquer  I'art  de  la  philosophic. 

Italian. 

Chi  non  fa  quel  che  deve,  quel  ch'aspetta  non  receve. 

Spanish. 

Si  fueras  regido  par  razon  a  muchas  regiras. 

211 


THE  MEMOIRS  OF 


"  In  four  things  a  prince  soonest  wrecks  himself :  To  be 
careless  and  slothful  in  his  affairs  ;  To  forsake  the  counsel  of 
his  true  servants  ;  To  give  ear  unto  unthankful  flatterers  ; 
and,  To  spend  above  his  rents. 

"  To  return  again  to  the  purpose  :  It  pleased  your  Majesty  to 
require  for  the  second  part,  viz.  What  might  best  settle  your 
estate  within  the  year  .''  I  said,  To  devolve  the  management  for 
a  year  upon  such  as  I  should  name,  joined  to  the  best  inclined 
of  your  own  council.  To  that  your  Majesty  once  agreed  ;  but 
when  I  came  more  to  particulars,  your  Majesty  judged  it  not 
your  interest,  as  having  been  otherwise  advised.  Then  I 
requested  your  Majesty  to  exercise  the  office  yourself. 
"  Yet  not  long  after,  your  Majesty  submitted  yourself  wholly 
and  entirely  to  eight  persons,  called  Octavians ;  and  told  me 
that  you  had  followed  my  opinion  therein,  and  had  submitted 
simpliciter  for  your  time  to  these  eight  persons.  I  replied. 
That  I  spoke  but  for  one  year  ;  and  that  I  would  have  named 
some  of  the  said  number,  but  not  all.  They  were  wise  men, 
learned  and  politick  ;   but  the  unmeeter  that  they  were  chusers 

■  of  themselves.  Yet  they  began  to  do  better  than  any  had  done 
before  them  ;  but  they  continued  not,  but  divided  among  them- 
selves, after  they  had  divided  the  offices  of  the  crown,  to  every 
man  one  :  whereas  at  the  first,  they  had  given  forth  that  they 
should  plant  mean  responsible  men  in  the  said  offices,  and  they 

'  all  too  but  comptrollers  of  the  said  officers.    So  that  many  began 

■  to  grudge  against  them,  seeing  them  become  in  a  sudden  rich. 
'  And  perceiving  their  great  backs,  the  whole  subjects,  and  his 
'  Majesty's  own  domesticks  to  follow  and  depend  upon  them, 
'  and  his  Majesty  to  pass  through  the  streets  with  three  or  four, 
'  as  forsaken  ;  because  none  hoped  any  more  for  reward  at  his 
'  hands,  but  so  much  as  might  be  had  for  serving  and  depending 
'  upon  the  said  eight  lords  ;  they  became  also  hated  and  envied, 
'  partly  for  the  causes  specified  ;  as  also  there  was  great  ground  of 
'jealousy,  that  they  were  intending  the  establishment  of  popery. 
'  So  that  there  was  a  rebellion  rais'd  in  Edinburgh  against  them, 
'  in  his  Majesty's  presence  ;  upon  which  they  fled  out  of  the  town, 
'  and  since  durst  never  take  upon  them  the  whole  government, 
'  but  were  content'to  be  joined  with  a  number  of  noblemen  and 
'  others  of  the  council,  to  the  number  of  twenty-four.  But  the 
'  greatest  part  of  the  noblemen  did  not  attend,  but  came  when 
*  they  were  written  for  to  the  conventions,  as  formerly  they  used. 

So  all  this  new  device  turned  to  the  old  sicut  antea." 


You  have  heard  how  that  his  Majesty  was  advised,  at  his  re- 
turning from  Denmark,  to  imprison  such  as  were  given  up  to 
have  been  most  unruly  during  his  absence.  But  being  returned, 
even  some  of  those  who  had  advised  the  said  warding  were  the 

212 


SIR  JAMES  MELVILLE 


first  who  gave  advertisement  to  those  who  were  to  be  warded, 
not  without  some  profit  for  their  reward,  to  the  great  discontent- 
ment of  some  of  their  associates  :  which  loosed  the  bond  which 
was  made  at  Denmark  by  the  chancellor  and  his  faction,  and 
caused  every  one  of  that  number  to  go  sundry,  and  to  do  for  them- 
selves. So  that  all  their  plots  and  devices  turned  to  change  some 
of  the  session  :  but  there  was  no  concurrence,  and  so  it  stopped 
of  itself. 

The  officers  of  the  exchequer  continued  a  while  to  be  the  only 
council  ;  and  the  nobilit^',  when  they  came,  were  kept  at  the  door. 
I  having  at  that  time  the  honour  to  be  one  of  the  exchequer,  took 
the  freedom  to  acquaint  his  Majesty,  that  the  nobility  would  be 
offended  at  such  usage,  which  was  so  manifest  a  slight.  I  said 
it  would  be  no  prejudice  to  cause  them  come  in,  they  being  great 
men,  as  my  lord  Hamilton,  my  lord  Maxwel,  and  others  of 
principal  note.  But  his  Majesty  of  his  own  nature  was  not 
changeable  from  the  order  laid  down  by  them  he  liked,  and  re- 
posed upon.  Yet,  of  my  own  accord,  I  went  forth  of  the  chamber, 
and  told  the  noblemen,  that  his  Majesty  was  upon  the  ordering 
of  his  accompts  and  rents,  and  the  daily  expences  of  his  house  ; 
that  he  was  ashamed  they  should  see  the  estate  thereof,  which 
was  the  cause  they  were  suffered  to  stand  without.  This  little 
excuse  was  somewhat  satisfactory  to  them.  But  that  order  was 
also  soon  altered. 

Concerning  the  reducing  of  the  Highlands  and  Isles  ;  three 
of  the  principals,  as  Maclean,  Alacdonnel  and  Donald  Gorm,  were 
subtilly  drawn  to  the  court  by  the  chancellor,  who  understood  of 
the  differences  among  them  ;  every  one  of  them  being  by  him 
put  in  hope  to  get  his  hand  above  his  enemy.  But  at  their  coming, 
they  were  all  three  warded  in  the  castle  of  Edinburgh,  to  their  great 
astonishment  :  for  they  had  each  of  them  committed  such  foul 
murders  under  trust,  that  it  was  horrible  to  rehearse.  Being 
therefore  apprehensive  of  their  lives,  they  dealt  largely  of  their 
ill-won  gold  to  those  who  had  most  credit.  Nevertheless,  to 
terrify  them  the  more,  to  draw  more  from  them,  they  were  put 
to  an  assize,  and  convict  of  treason  :  which  caused  them  to  re- 
double their  gifts  to  the  guiders,  but  not  to  the  King  ;  in  such 
sort  that  there  was  an  agreement  betwixt  his  Majesty'  and  them, 
that  they  should  give  pledges  that  they  should  pay  yearly  unto  his 
Majesty  20,000  merks  for  the  lands,  of  the  property  whereof  they 
had  no  security  ;  of  the  which  they  had  of  yearly  rent,  as  was  given 
into  the  exchequer,  250,000  merks.  This  was  all  given  them  for 
20,000  merks.  And  whereas  before  they  had  no  right  nor  security, 
but  a  forcible  possession,  they  obtained  sure  infeofments  by 
charter,  seisin,  and  the  great  seal,  and  a  remission  of  their  foul 
crimes.  But  shortly  after,  their  pledges,  who  were  kept  in  the 
castle  of  Blackness,  for  giving  a  small  sum  were  released  ;  and  so 
the  20,000  merks  was  lost  and  never  paid, 

213 


THE  MEMOIRS  OF 


Here  was  a  good  prince  ill  used,  and  abused  ;  and  the  half 
of  the  rents  robbed  from  him  ;  his  God  offended  by  sparing  to  do 
justice  upon  such  bloody  tyrants,  who  acknowledge  neither  God 
nor  the  King. 

I  had  advised  his  Majesty  to  go  himself  to  the  isles  to  build  a 
fort  there,  and  to  remain  two  years  till  all  things  were  ordered  ; 
shewing  his  Majesty,  that  the  Kings  of  Scotland  were  never  rich, 
since  they  left  the  Highlands  to  dv/ell  in  the  Lowlands  ;  but 
have  ever  since  diminished  their  rents,  and  increased  their  super- 
fluous expences  in  diet  and  clothing,  following  the  customs  of 
other  nations.  Which  his  Majesty,  after  inquiry,  found  to  be 
most  true  ;  and  his  Majesty  was  resolved  to  follow  the  said  advice, 
and  I  had  promised  to  go  with  him  :  but  all  was  altered  by  the 
former  misrule.  Matters  thus  carried  on,  many  began  to  lose  hope 
of  amendment  ;  or  to  see  the  reformation  promised  and  expected, 
lamenting  to  see  a  good  King  so  ill  counselled. 

Yet  this  time  his  Majesty  sent  for  me  ;  and  at  my  coming  to 
Falkland,  where  the  court  remained  for  the  summer  season,  it 
pleased  his  Majesty  to  tell  me,  how  that,  at  his  coming  out  of 
Denmark,  he  had  promised  to  the  Queen  and  council  there,  to 
place,  about  the  Queen's  Majestj^  his  bedfellow,  good  and  discreet 
company  ;  which  he  had  left  too  long  undone  :  that  at  length, 
having  advised  with  himself,  he  thought  me  the  fittest  man  to 
commit  that  charge  to  ;  desiring  me  not  to  refuse  the  just  calling 
of  my  prince,  wherein  I  might  serve  as  in  a  lawful  vocation  ; 
because  such  as  ordinarily  suit  for  service  at  court,  or  for  any 
office,  do  it  for  their  own  profit  ;  but  they  are  more  profitable 
for  princes  that  are  sought  after,  and  are  chosen  for  their  qualities. 
I  know,  says  he,  that  you  would  gladly  live  at  home  in  your  own 
house,  with  contentment  of  mind,  which  you  think  is  not  to  be 
had  in  the  troublesome  alterations  in  court  ;  but  you  know  that  a 
man  is  not  born  for  himself  only,  but  also  for  the  weal  of  his 
piince  and  country.  And  whereas  your  contiuual  on -waiting  will 
be  chargeable  and  expensive  to  you,  and  hindersome  to  your  ovm 
affairs  at  home,  I  shall  ordain  sufficient  entertainment  for  your 
present  relief  ;  and  recompence  for  this  and  your  former  faithful 
service. 

I  answered,  That,  as  his  Majesty's  most  humble  seivant  and 
subject,  I  never  refused  to  obey  his  commandment,  however 
prejudical  to  my  own  interest  the  same  should  have  appeared  to 
me,  and  contrary  to  my  natural  inclinations  :  that  I  should  resolve, 
in  that  his  Majesty's  desire,  to  satisfy  his  expectations.  Then  it 
pleased  him  to  tell  me,  that  none  of  his  council  or  chamber  were 
privy  to  this  his  design  of  giving  me  that  charge,  but  only  one 
man  ;  and  that  the  Queen  notwithstanding  had  got  notice  thereof, 
and  supposed  that  I  was  to  be  put  there,  to  inform  her  rightly 
of  the  estate  of  the  country,  and  concerning  her  behaviour  to  his 

214 


SIR  JAMES  MELVILLE 


Majesty,  and  to  even'  nobleman  and  lady,  conform  to  their  ranks 
and  conditions,  and  to  be  her  keeper. 

His  Majesty-  the  next  day  took  occasion,  openly  at  the  table, 
to  shew  unto  tlie  Queen,  how  that  she  and  all  her  nation  were 
obliged  to  me,  for  the  continual  good  report  I  had  made  of  them, 
and  the  good-will  I  carried  toward  the  whole  nation  :  and  also 
how  I  had  travelled  many  countries,  and  had  so  great  experience, 
that  both  he  and  she  might  learn  of  me  several  things  for  their 
advantage,  and  for  the  weal  and  standing  of  their  estate  ;  and 
that  the  Queen  his  mother  found  herself  much  relieved  by  iny 
conversation,  and  service  of  importance,  as  well  here  at  home 
as  when  I  was  employed  by  her  abroad.  Thus  far  his  Majesty 
said  above  my  deservings,  to  recommend  me  to  her  Majesty,  to 
oblige  her  to  like  me  the  better.  Notwithstanding  whereof,  the 
Queen  did  shew  me  no  great  countenance  but  took  coldly 
with  iTie,  when  after  dinner,  it  pleased  his  Majesty  to  present 
me  unto  her,  to  be  her  Highness's  counsellor,  and  gentleman 
of  her  chamber.  Some  days  afterward  her  Majesty  asked  me, 
if  I  was  set  to  be  her  keeper  ?  I  answered.  That  her  Majesty 
was  known  to  be  descended  of  so  noble  and  princely  parents 
and  so  well  brought  up,  that  she  needed  no  keeper  ;  albeit  her 
dignitj'  required  to  be  honourably  served  with  men  and  women, 
both  young  and  old,  in  sundry  occupations.  She  replied.  That  I 
had  been  ill  used  ;  shewing  me,  that  at  first,  when  she  was  yet 
ignorant  of  every  man's  qualities,  some  indiscreet  enviers  en- 
deavoured to  give  her  a  bad  character  of  me.  I  answered.  That 
I  was  put  in  her  service  to  instruct  such  indiscreet  persons,  and 
also  to  give  them  good  example,  how  to  behave  themselves  duti- 
fully and  reverently  unto  her  Majesty,  to  hold  them  aback,  and 
that  way  to  keep  her  from  their  rashness  and  importunity'.  At 
length  her  Majesty  appeared  to  be  well  satisfied  with  my  service, 
in  which  I  spent  years,  keeping  sometimes  the  council- 

days,  and  sometime  waiting  upon  the  exchequer,  when  their 
Majesties  were  together  ;  but  when  they  were  asunder,  I  waited 
only  upon  the  Queen. 

About  this  time  many  witches  were  taken  in  Lothian,  who 
deposed  concerning  some  design  of  the  earl  of  Bothwell's  against 
his  Majesty's  person.  Which  coming  to  the  said  earl's  ears,  he 
entred  in  ward  within  the  castle  of  Edinburgh,  desiring  to  be 
tried  ;  alledging  that  the  devil,  who  was  a  liar  from  the  beginning, 
ought  not  to  be  credited,  nor  yet  the  witches  his  sworn  servants. 
Especially  a  renowned  midwife  called  Amy  Simson  affirmed. 
That  she,  in  company  with  nine  other  witches,  being  convened 
in  the  night  beside  Prestonpans,  the  devil  their  master  being 
present,  standing  in  the  midst  of  them,  a  body  of  wax,  shapen  and 
made  by  the  said  Amy  Simson,  wrapped  within  a  linnen  cloth, 
was  first  delivered  to  the  devil  ;  who,  after  he  had  pronounced 
his  verdict,  delivered  the  said  picture  to  Amy  Simson,  and  she 

215 


THE  MEMOIRS  OF 


to  her  nest  neighbour,  and  so  every  one  round  about,  saying, 
'  This  is  King  James  VI.  ordered  to  be  consumed  at  the  instance 
of  a  nobleman,  Francis  earl  Bothwell.'  Afterward  again  at  their 
meeting  by  night  in  the  kirk  of  North-Berwick,  where  the  devil, 
clad  in  a  black  gown,  with  a  black  hat  upon  his  head,  preached 
unto  a  great  number  of  them  out  of  the  pulpit,  having  like  light 
candles  round  about  him. 

The  effect  of  his  language  was  to  know  what  hurt  they  had 
done  ;  how  many  they  had  gained  to  their  opinion  since  the  last 
meeting  ;  what  success  the  melting  of  the  picture  had,  and  such 
other  vain  things.  And  because  an  old  silly  poor  ploughman, 
called  Gray  Meilt,  chanced  to  say.  That  nothing  ailed  the  King 
yet,  God  be  thanked  ;  the  Devil  gave  him  a  great  blow.  Thus 
divers  among  them  entred  in  reasoning,  marvelling  that  all  their 
devilry  could  do  no  harm  to  the  King,  as  it  had  done  to  divers 
others.  The  devil  answered, '  II  est  un  homme  de  Dieu,  Certainly 
he  is  a  man  of  God,'  and  does  no  wrong  wittingly,  but  he  is  inclined 
to  all  godliness,  justice  and  virtue  ;  therefore  God  hath  preserved 
him  in  the  midst  of  many  dangers.  Now  after  that  the  devil  had 
ended  his  admonitions,  he  came  down  out  of  the  pulpit,  and  caused 
all  the  company  come  kiss  his  arse  :  which  they  said  was  cold 
like  ice  ;  his  body  hard  like  iron,  as  they  thought  who  handled 
him  ;  his  face  was  terrible  ;  his  nose  like  the  beak  of  an  Eagle  ; 
great  burning  eyes  ;  his  hands  and  his  legs  were  hoary,  with  claws 
upon  his  hands  and  feet  like  the  griffin  ;  he  spoke  with  a  low 
voice. 

The  tricks  and  tragedies  he  played  then  among  so  many  men 
and  women  in  this  country  will  hardly  get  credit  by  posterity  : 
the  history  whereof,  with  their  whole  depositions,  was  written  by 
Mr.  James  Carmichael  minister  of  Haddington.  Among  other 
things,  some  of  them  did  shew,  that  there  was  a  westland  man 
called  Richard  Graham,  who  had  a  familiar  spirit,  the  which 
Richard  they  said  could  both  do  and  tell  many  things,  chiefly 
against  the  earl  of  Bothwell.  Whereupon  the  said  Richard 
Graham  was  apprehended,  and  brought  to  Edinburgh  ;  and, 
being  examined  before  his  Majesty,  I  being  present,  he  granted 
that  he  had  a  familiar  spirit,  which  shewed  him  sundry  things  ; 
but  he  denied  that  he  was  a  witch,  or  had  any  frequentation  with 
them.  But  when  it  was  answered  again,  how  that  Amy  Simson 
had  declared,  that  he  caused  the  earl  of  Bothwell  address  him  to 
her  ;  he  granted  that  to  be  true  and  that  the  earl  of  Bothwell  had 
knowledge  of  him  by  Effe  Machalloun  and  Barbary  Napier, 
Edinburgh  women.  Whereupon  he  was  sent  for  by  the  earl 
Bothwell,  v,-ho  required  his  help  to  cause  the  King's  Majesty  his 
master  to  like  well  of  him.  And  to  that  effect  he  gave  the  said 
earl  some  drug  or  herb,  willing  him  at  some  convenient  time  to 
touch  therewith  his  Majesty's  face.  Which  being  done  by  the  said 
earl  ineffectually,  he  dealt  again  with  the  said  Richard  to  get  his 

216 


SIR  JAMES  MELVILLE 

Majesty  wrecked,  as  Richard  alledged  ;  who  said,  he  could  not  do 
such  things  himself  ;  but  that  a  notable  midwife  who  was  a  witch, 
called  Amy  Simpson,  could  bring  any  such  purpose  to  pass.  Thus 
far  the  said  Richard  Graham  affirmed  divers  times  before  the 
council  ;  nevertheless  he  was  burnt,  with  the  said  Simson,  and 
many  other  witches.  This  Richard  alledged,  that  it  was  certain 
what  is  reported  of  the  fairies  ;  and  that  spirits  may  take  a  form, 
and  be  seen,  though  not  felt. 

The  earl  of  Bothwell,  as  I  said,  was  entred  to  ward  within  the 
castle  of  Edinburgh,  his  Majesty  not  willing  to  credit  his  divilish 
accusers  ;  but  the  council  thought  fit,  that  for  a  while  he  should 
pass  his  time  in  other  countries,  and  so  to  be  set  free  upon  some 
articles  and  conditions.  But  some  of  those,  who  were  appointed 
to  deal  with  him,  endeavoured  to  make  advantage  of  him  to  be  his 
friends.  Others,  who  were  desirous  to  have  the  state  troubled, 
made  him  false  advertisements,  as  if  his  life  had  been  in  danger. 
Which  caused  him  resolve  to  save  himself  over  the  castle-wall, 
and  retired  himself  to  Caithness  :  whence  he  was  shortly  after 
sent  for  by  such  as  were  malecontents,  and  others  who  were 
desirous  to  fish  in  troubled  waters,  alledging  they  had  made  him 
friends  enough  in  court,  and  that  there  was  a  fair  enterprize 
devised,  to  take  the  King,  and  kill  the  chancellor.  Upon  which 
information,  he  was  easily  persuaded  to  come  and  make  himself 
head  of  that  enterprize. 

He  therefore,  not  long  after,  accompanied  with  James  Douglas, 
sometime  laird  of  Spot,  the  laird  of  Niddry,  Mr.  John  Colvil  and 
some  others,  entred  into  the  King's  palace,  late  about  supper- 
time,  by  the  passage  of  an  old  stable,  not  without  secret  intelligence 
of  some  about  his  Majesty.  So  soon  as  they  were  all  within  the 
close  of  the  palace,  they  cried,  '  Justice,  Justice  ;  a  Bothwell,  a 
Bothwell  ;'  and  had  been  masters  of  the  whole,  were  it  not  that 
James  Douglass  of  Spot,  after  that  he  had  taken  the  keys  from 
the  porters,  entered  within  the  porter's  lodge,  to  relieve  some  of 
his  servants,  who  were  kept  there  in  prison,  and  had  been  examined 
upon  suspicion  of  the  slaughter  of  his  good-father,  the  old  laird 
of  Spot  ;  where  he  met  with  some  resistance  from  the  porters, 
the  noise  whereof  did  rise  sooner  than  was  the  intention  of  the 
enterprizers.  Which  alarmed  his  Majesty,  the  chancellor  and 
others,  to  shut  and  fortify  their  chamber-doors,  and  to  make 
resistance  till  some  relief  came  from  the  Canongate,  conducted 
by  my  brother  Sir  Andrew  Melville  of  Garvock,  master  of  his 
Majesty's  houshold,  who  knew  a  secret  passage  through  the 
abby  church,  and  entred  by  the  same  in  armour.  Whereof  the 
earl  of  Bothwell  and  his  company  being  advertised,  they  stole 
quietly  through  the  galleries  unto  the  part  where  they  entred  the 
palace,  and  fled,  without  any  great  harm,  as  God  would  have  it. 
In  his  out-going  he  chanced  to  meet  with  John  Shaw,  master 
stabler  to  his  Majesty,  whom  he  slev/,  together  with  his  brother, 

217 


THE  MEMOIRS  OF 


being  in  a  rage  that  the  enterprize  had  failed.  But  divers  of  his 
company  were  apprehended  by  my  said  brother,  and  by  others  ; 
who  were  all  executed  the  next  day. 

Their  manner  of  proceeding  was  :  first,  the  laird  of  Spot  with 
a  companjr  took  the  keys,  and  made  themselves  masters  of  the 
gates  of  the  palace.  Another  company  was  directed  to  the 
chancellor,  who  was  sitting  at  his  supper,  and  my  brother  Sir 
Robert  with  him  :  and  they  had  been  taken,  had  it  not  been  for 
the  laird  of  Spot's  earnestness  to  relieve  his  servants  ;  the  bruit 
whereof  caused  the  chancellor  to  flee  out  of  his  hall  to  his  chamber, 
and  shut  the  door  after  him  :  so  that  my  said  brother  got  no  entry, 
but  retired  him.self  to  another  void  house  ;  whither  none  pursued 
him,  neither  was  he  in  any  fear  for  himself. 

The  earl  of  Bothwell,  accompanied  with  Mr.  John  Colvil  and 
others,  addressed  themselves  unto  the  Queen's  chamber-door, 
where  he  supposed  the  King  would  be  found.  But  the  door  was 
defended  well  by  Harry  Lindsay  of  Kilfauns,  miaster  of  her  house- 
hold. In  the  mean  time,  his  Majesty  was  conveyed  up  to  that 
tower  above  the  said  chamber,  after  the  door  of  her  Majesty's 
chamber  had  been  broken  with  hammers  in  divers  parts,  and 
that  Mr.  John  Colvil  had  caused  bring  fire  to  burn  it.  The  door 
of  the  chancellor's  chamber  was  manfully  defended  by  himself. 
Ke  caused  his  men  to  shoot  out  of  the  windows  continuallj',  and 
through  doors  ;  where  Robert  Scot,  brother  to  the  laird  of  Bal- 
weary,  was  shot  through  the  thigh.  The  chancellor  took  courage 
when  he  heard  my  brother's  voice  ;  and  then  the  enterprizers 
fled,  as  said  is. 

At  their  first  entry  within  the  palace,  I  was  sitting  at  supper 
with  my  lord  duke  of  Lenox,  who  incontinently  took  his  sword, 
and  pressed  forth  ;  but  he  had  no  company,  and  the  place  already 
was  full  of  enemies.  We  were  compelled  to  fortify  the  doors  and 
stairs,  with  tables,  forms  and  stools,  and  be  spectators  of  that 
strange  hurly  burly  for  the  space  of  an  hour,  beholding  v.ith  torch- 
light forth  of  the  duke's  gallery  their  reeling,  their  rumbling  with 
halberts,  the  clacking  of  their  culverins  and  pistols,  the  dunting 
of  mells  and  hammers,  and  their  crying  for  justice.  Now  there 
was  a  passage  betwixt  the  chancellor's  chamber  and  my  lord  duke's 
by  a  stair  ;  and  during  this  fray,  the  chancellor  came  up  the  said 
stair,  and  desired  entry  into  my  lord  duke's  chamber.  My  lord 
duke,  by  my  advice,  desired  him  to  cause  his  men  debate  at  the 
nether-door  so  long  as  they  might,  and  offered  to  receive  himself 
within  the  chamber.  Which  the  chancellor  took  in  an  evil  part, 
and  suspected  my  lord  duke  ;  and  so  returned  back  again  to  his 
own  chamber,  and  debated  the  best  he  could,  as  said  is.  So 
soon  as  my  lord  duke  saw  a  company  of  friends  within  the  close, 
he  went  forth  to  pursue  the  earl  of  Bothwell  and  his  company  ; 
but  the  night  was  dark,  and  they  took  them  speedily  to  their 
horses,  and  escaped. 

218 


SIR  JAMES  MELVILLE 


They  being  retired,  we  got  entry  to  her  Majestj-'s  chamber, 
whither  the  King  was  for  the  time  come  down.  Where  his 
Majesty  discoursed  with  me  a  good  space,  concerning  this  terrible 
attempt,  and  of  his  many  hard  misfortunes.  Where  I  left  not 
to  tell  his  I\Iajest\'  some  of  the  special  causes  of  the  said  enter- 
prizes,  and  how  that  many  of  them  might  have  been  prevented 
by  a  prudent  and  careful  government,  as  may  be  sufficiently 
marked  and  considered  by  the  many  admonitions  and  former 
advertisements  made  unto  his  Majesty  before  all  the  accidents 
that  chanced  unto  him,  and  also  in  this.  For  two  days  before  this 
enterprize,  my  brother  Sir  Robert  and  I  had  got  intelligence, 
that  some  such  design  was  shortly  to  be  put  in  execution  by  the 
earl  of  Bothwell  and  his  accomplices,  against  his  Majesty  and  the 
guiders  of  coutt.  Whereof  his  Majesty  made  no  account,  though 
thereof  advertised  ;  but  was  the  next  day  going  to  hunting  : 
which  coming  to  my  brother's  ears,  he  rose  out  of  his  bed  in  his 
shirt,  only  in  his  night-gown  ;  and  came  forth  to  the  outer-close 
of  the  Abbay,  and  took  his  Majest>''s  horse  by  the  bridle,  (for  he 
was  already  upon  horseback)  using  many  persuasions  to  have 
stayed  him,  though  all  in  vain  :  for  we  were  in  doubt  whether  the 
enterprize  would  be  executed  in  the  fields,  or  in  the  palace. 

After  this  attempt,  his  Majesty  went  up  to  the  town  of  Edin- 
burgh for  his  greater  security  ;  where  there  were  divers  new 
enterprizes  made,  whereof  my  brother  Sir  Robert  getting  frequent 
advertisements,  sometimes  to  keep  his  lodging  such  a  night, 
sometimes  to  be  well  accomplished  such  a  night,  as  being  one  who 
had  done  pleasures  to  many,  and  was  not  hated  ;  nor  would  never 
have  been  in  danger,  so  that  he  could  but  save  himself  from  the 
first  fury  of  the  attempters. 

This  hath  been  the  hard  estate  of  this  good  King,  occasioned 
by  his  laying  the  burden  of  his  affairs  upon  a  few  hated  and  envied 
for  their  ambition,  covetousness,  and  partialities,  who  so  soon  as 
they  had  attained  so  weighty  a  charge,  took  only  care  how  to  make 
themselves  soon  rich,  most  commonly  by  the  wreck  of  others  : 
so  blindly  transported  by  ambition  and  greediness,  that  they 
neglected  both  King  and  commonwealth  ;  satisfying  the  king 
with  fair  language,  though  displeasing  the  country'  with  foul 
deeds  ;  caring  only  how  to  discredit  and  bear  down  so  many 
honest  men,  as  they  knew  would  discover  their  misbehaviour,  or 
who  would  oppose  them  in  their  pernicious  designs,  which  I  may 
justly  testify  for  my  part. 

Not  long  after  this,  a  new  enterprize  was  made,  to  make  a  great 
alteration  in  court,  by  some  courtiers  among  themselves.  When 
as  the  master  of  Glammis  was  treasurer.  Sir  George  Hume  master 
of  the  waidrobe,  my  lord  of  Spiny  gentleman  of  the  cham.ber, 
and  young  Logic,  also  Sir  John  Maitland,  lord  Thirlstane  chan- 
cellor ;  Sir  Robert  my  brother  treasurer-depute  had  the  principal 

219 


THE  MEMOIRS  OF 


handling  of  the  office,  by  debursing  and  receiving  ;  the  provost 
of  Lincludin  collector,  and  Seaton  of  Parbroth  comp- 

troller. Sir  Richard  Cockburn  of  Clarkington  secretary,  and  I  was 
one  of  the  privy  council,  and  gentleman  of  her  Majesty's  chamber. 
My  lord  duke  of  Lenox,  my  lord  Hume,  and  my  lord  of  Mar  were 
drawn  upon  this  course,  to  reform  the  abuses  at  court,  as  was 
alledged.  There  was  no  good  liking  between  the  master  of 
Glammis  and  my  lord  of  Spiny,  chiefly  for  the  feud  between  the 
houses  of  Crawford  and  Glammis.  At  that  time  my  lord  Spiny 
was  in  great  favour  with  his  Majesty,  and  sometime  his  bedfellow  ; 
and  upon  that  account  he  was  envied.  And  besides  the  foresaid 
feud,  he  was  accused  to  have  been  a  dealer  with  the  earl  of  Both- 
well,  and  upon  that  was  for  a  time  decourted.  Young  Logie  was 
also  thought  to  have  had  much  dealing  with  the  said  earl,  and  was 
accused,  taken  and  warded  for  the  same.  But  he  escaped  out  of  a 
window  in  Dalkeith,  by  the  help  of  a  Danish  gentlewoman,  whom 
he  afterward  married. 

There  was  great  hatred  betwixt  my  lord  duke  and  the  chan- 
cellor :  for  after  the  late  enterprize  in  the  abbay,  the  chancellor 
caused  close  up  the  passage  with  stone  and  lime  that  was  betwixt 
their  lodgings,  whereby  he  gave  the  duke  to  understand  that  he 
suspected  him  ;  which  was  too  rashly  done  by  the  said  chancellor. 
For  after  that  the  new  alteration  was  intended,  and  called  '  the 
enterprize  made  at  Dalkeith,'  my  lord  duke  and  my  lord  Hume 
riding  from  Dalkeith  to  Edinburgh,  met  the  chancellor  well 
accompanied  riding  to  court,  where  the  said  loids  made  a  mint 
to  set  upon  him  to  slay  him  ;  yet  the  matter  was  at  that  time  taken 
up  by  Alexander  Hume  of  Northberwick  and  my  brother  Sir 
Robert,  who  were  in  company  with  the  chancellor  for  the  time. 
But  shortly  after  that,  the  chancellor  left  the  court,  retiring  him- 
self to  his  house  ;  and  in  his  absence  a  great  number  of  faults 
were  charged  upon  him,  and  among  the  rest,  how  he  had  so  long 
hindred  the  King's  marriage,  whereby  the  Queen's  Majesty  was 
made  his  great  enemy.  The  master  of  Glammis  also  would  fain 
have  had  my  brother  out  of  his  office,  to  bruik  the  whole  office  of 
treasurer  alone.  Therefore  the  laird  of  Carmichael,  captain  of 
the  guard,  was  easily  persuaded  to  cause  a  number  of  the  guard, 
who  stood  with  culverins  at  the  gates  of  the  house  of  Dalkeith, 
to  boast  to  slay  my  said  brother  divers  times  in  his  passing  in  and 
out  of  the  same  house  ;  supposing  that  my  brother  should  fear 
his  life  and  leave  the  court,  as  the  chancellor  had  done.  But  my 
brother  made  no  account  of  their  boasts  ;  for  he  knew  the  duke 
was  his  friend,  and  that  he  had  but  few  enemies  :  therefore  he 
frequented  the  court  more  frequently  than  formerly,  but  came 
always  well  accompanied  ;  for  they  could  get  nothing  to  lay  to  his 
charge,  but  said  to  his  Majesty,  That  he  was  too  lavish  in  his  office 
to  be  a  treasurer,  over  easy  in  his  compositions,  and  over  gentle 
to  such  as  were  denounced  to  the  horn.     The  Queen's  Majesty, 

220 


SIR  JAMES  MELVILLE 


according  to  her  custom,  when-ever  she  understands  that  his 
A'Iajest%-  by  wrong  information  is  stirred  up  against  any  honest 
servant  or  subject,  she  incontinently  intercedes  for  them,  and 
useth  great  diligence  to  get  sure  knowledge  of  the  verit\',  that  she 
may  the  boldlier  speak  in  their  favour.  Therefore  so  soon  as  her 
Majesty  understood  that  they  were  dealing  against  Sir  Robert 
my  brother,  it  pleased  her  to  speak  far  in  his  favour,  declaring 
how,  that  at  her  first  landing  in  this  country,  his  Majesty'  had 
presented  him  to  her,  praising  him  as  one  who  had  been  a  true  and 
faithful  servant  to  the  Queen-regent  his  grandmother,  to  the 
Queen  his  mother,  and  to  himself  ;  willing  her  to  look  upon  him 
as  such,  and  to  follow  his  advice.  Also  many  of  the  lords  took 
my  brother's  part  in  such  sort,  as  he  still  kept  the  court  and  his 
office. 

When  this  alteration  was  made,  I  was  absent,  and  at  my  coming 
again  to  court,  his  Majesty  told  me  of  the  chancellor's  fearful 
retreat,  and  that  he  was  in  no  danger  in  his  company.  I  answered 
again,  That  the  Prince's  presence  should  be  a  safeguard,  albeit 
it  was  not  always  so  in  Scotland.  It  appeared  that  his  Majesty 
was  somewhat  altered  upon  the  chancellor,  my  lord  Spiny,  and 
my  brother.  For  as  the  master  of  Glammis  would  have  had  his 
office,  so  others  misliked  him,  because  he  haunted  the  chancellor's 
company,  and  was  look'd  upon  as  his  great  friend,  who  was 
generally  hated  :  so  that  his  Majesty  was  moved  to  think  and 
say,  That  he  was  not  meet  for  his  office.  I  being  present, 
answered,  That  it  grieved  me  to  the  heart,  to  hear  and  see  so 
good  a  prince  always  invironed  with  bad  company,  causing  him 
so  oft  without  reason  or  offence  to  cast  off  his  most  faithful  ser- 
vants ;  and  that  it  would  be  seen,  let  men  serve  never  so  well, 
if  they  were  misrepresented  by  such  as  had  his  ear,  it  availed 
nothing.  To  this  his  Alajesty  replied.  That  he  knew  my  brother 
to  be  a  true  servant,  but  too  gentle,  liberal,  and  easy  in  his  com- 
positions. He  declared  that  he  would  never  alter  upon  him 
nor  me  ;  so  that  he  continued  constant  against  the  intentions  of 
those  who  were  about  him. 

Here  it  may  be  seen  how  necessary'  it  is  to  have  good  friends 
about  the  prince,  and  how  hurtful  and  dangerous  it  is  for  a  courtier, 
when  such  as  have  the  Prince's  ear  are  his  enemies.  For  in  that 
case,  whatsoever  his  good  service  hath  been,  he  is  in  hazard  of 
being  couped  and  wrecked. 

About  this  time  the  earl  of  Arran,  who  had  been  absent  ever 
since  the  Road  of  Stirling,  came  to  court  and  spoke  w-ith  his 
Majesty,  and  pretended  to  have  obtained  again  his  office  of  chan- 
cellor. His  Majesty  had  still  some  favour  for  him,  and  would 
have  been  content  of  his  company  ;  but  others  held  him  back, 
and  shortly  after  that,  he  was  surprised  and  slain  by  James  Douglas 
of  Parkhead,  in  revenge  of  the  death  of  the  earl  of  Morton  his 
uncle.     Little  diligence  was  made  to  revenge  the  same,  many 

Q  221 


THE  MEMOIRS  OF 


thinking  strange  that  he  was  permitted  so  long  to  live,  in  respect 
of  his  arrogant  and  insolent  behaviour,  when  he  had  the  court 
at  his  will. 

Now  the  chancellor  who  was  decourted  at  the  alteration  made 
in  Dalkeith,  did  what  he  could  to  procure  his  Majesty's  f:ivour  ; 
which  at  last  he  obtained,  and  was  again  introduced.  But  at 
first,  the  Queen  would  not  see  him  ;  yet  at  length  by  the  moyen 
of  Sir  Robert  Ker  of  Cesford,  who  had  married  his  brother's 
daughter,  his  peace  was  also  made  with  her  Majesty. 

About  this  time  there  did  arise  great  strife  and  disorders  in  the 
country,  between  the  earls  of  Huntly  and  Murray  ;  between  the 
earls  of  Caithness  and  Sutherland  ;  between  my  lords  Hamilton 
and  Angus  :  for  divers  of  them  made  suits,  and  obtained  com- 
mission, with  ample  privileges  over  other  lands,  as  well  as  over 
their  own  ;  which  engendred  many  discords  :  whereof  I  ad- 
vertised his  Majesty,  that  order  might  be  taken  therewith. 
Whereupon  the  council  being  convened,  they  ordered  letters  to 
be  directed  in  his  Majesty's  name,  charging  them  all  to  desist 
from  hostility,  and  to  compear  before  the  privy  council  at  prefixed 
days.  First  the  earls  of  Murray  and  Huntly  compeared,  there 
being  a  gentleman  of  the  name  of  Gordon  killed  with  a  shot  out 
of  the  house  of  Tarnua,  by  the  earl  of  Murray.  Both  the  parties 
being  come  strong  to  court,  were  commanded  to  keep  their 
lodgings,  for  preventing  of  trouble  before  their  compearing. 
When  his  Majesty  was  advised  by  the  chancellor  what  to 
do  in  reference  to  that  matter,  then  his  Majesty  proposed  the 
same  to  the  council  ;  to  wit,  three  points,  either  present  agreement 
to  be  made,  or  warding  both  the  earls,  or  caution  to  be  taken  of 
both  ;  then  to  send  home  the  one,  and  hold  ths  other  still  at  court 
for  a  v/hile.  His  Aiajesty,  followmg  forth  this  proposition, 
declared  first,  That  the  parties  could  not  be  agreed,  because  of  the 
hot  blood  of  the  laird  of  Cluny,  Gordon's  brother  lately  slain. 
Concerning  warding  he  alledged.  That  the  castle  of  Edinburgh 
had  enough  of  prisoners  already  ;  that  the  abbay  was  not  a  fit 
prison  for  noblemen  :  so  that  it  would  be  fittest  to  take  caution 
of  them  both,  and  to  hold  them  sundry,  to  send  home  the  one, 
and  retain  the  other  at  court  for  a  season.  The  chancellor  was 
of  that  opinion,  and  sundry  others  who  used  to  depend  upon  such 
who  had  the  chief  handling.  Then  his  Majesty  commanded  me 
to  tell  my  opinion,  which  was  different  from  this.  I  advised 
present  agreement,  supposing  that  the  earl  of  Huntly,  for  his 
Majesty's  pleasure,  and  in  obedience  to  his  command,  would  not 
refuse  to  compound  the  matter  by  a  present  uptaking,  seeing  he 
was  come  so  great  a  journey  with  his  lady  and  whole  houshold, 
to  remain  all  winter  at  Edinburgh.  At  this  the  chancellor  took 
m.e  up  tauntingly,  saying,  That  the  earl  of  Huntly  would  tarry  at 
court  all  that  day  till  to  morrow,  and  would  part  no  sooner  ;  for 
he  had  promised  to  the  said  earl  that  advantage  over  his  enem.y, 

222 


SIR  JAMES  MELVILLE 


albeit  I  knew  the  earl's  intention  was  to  tarry  all  winter  at  court. 
The  justice-clerk  was  of  my  judgment  ;  but  said,  That  it  appeared 
his  ]\Iajesty  with  the  chancellor  had  already  concluded  to  send 
Huntly  home,  and  keep  the  other  at  court.  So  soon  as  Huntly 
went  home  wanting  his  competitor,  he  triumphed  and  took  sundry 
advantages  upon  the  earl  of  Murray's  land,  giving  the  earl  just 
occasion  of  complaint  :  And  getting  no  redress,  he  retired  him- 
self from  the  court,  and  became  so  malecontent,  that  he  took 
plain  part  with  the  earl  of  Bothwell,  who  was  still  upon  his 
entcrprizes. 

The  earl  of  Huntly  being  advertised  that  his  adversary  was  an 
out-law  with  the  earl  of  Bothwell,  he  returned  again  to  court,  to 
get  yet  some  advantage  upon  him.  But  in  the  mean  time,  the 
lord  Ochiltree  endeavoured  to  agree  them  by  consent  of  his 
Majesty.  He  drew  the  earl  of  Murray  to  Donnibrisle  to  be  near 
hand,  that  conditions  and  articles  might  be  added  and  pared  at  the 
pleasure  of  their  friends.  The  earl  of  Huntly  being  also  made 
privy  to  his  coming  to  Donnibrisle,  obtained  incontinently  a 
commission  (appearing  therein  to  do  his  Majesty  acceptable 
service)  to  pursue  by  fire  and  sword  the  earl  of  Bothwell,  and  all 
his  partakers.  Little  knew  his  Majesty,  that  under  this  general, 
he  was  minded  to  assail  the  earl  of  Murray  at  his  own  house,  to 
kill  him,  as  he  did  to  the  regret  of  many.  But  the  lord  Ochiltree 
took  such  a  despite,  that  his  friend  was  so  slain  under  communing, 
as  he  alledged,  that  he  took  plain  part  with  the  earl  of  Bothwell, 
and  so  did  divers  others,  in  revenge  of  his  quarrel,  encouraging 
the  said  earl  to  assail  his  Majesty  within  his  palace  of  Falkland, 
having  divers  in  court  familiar  enough  with  his  Majesty  upon  the 
said  conspiracy  with  him,  whose  counsel  his  Majesty  followed 
most.  So  that  they  drew  him  into  a  net  to  abide  still  in  Falkland, 
notwithstanding  the  many  sure  advertisements  that  had  been 
made  unto  him.  Such  hath  been  his  Majesty's  hard  fortune  in 
many  such  straits. 

The  few  number  who  were  faithful  to,  and  careful  of  his 
Majesty-,  counselled  him  after  the  first  advertisement,  to  pass  to 
Coupar,  and  convene,  with  all  possible  diligence,  the  barons  of 
Fife  for  his  defence.  But  such  as  sought  his  wreck,  persuaded 
him  to  tarr>'  and  delay,  alledging  that  they  had  sure  advertisement, 
that  the  earl  of  Lothian  would  not  come  out  of  Lothian  till  such  a 
Day  ;  which  would  have  been  two  days  longer,  and  behind  the 
day  which  he  kept  ;  for  he  came  to  Falkland  two  days  sooner. 
This  advice  was  given,  that  his  Majesty  might  be  surprized  before 
he  could  cither  enter  within  the  tower  of  Falkland,  or  be  provided 
with  any  forces  to  defend  him.  And  because  they  knew  my 
brother  and  me  to  be  careful  for  him,  they  advised  his  Majesty 
to  send  us  home  to  our  houses,  that  same  night  that  we  understood 
the  earl  of  Bothwell  would  be  there,  and  had  so  told  his  Majesty  ; 
but  he  believed  his  abusers  better.     We  gave  his  Majesty  counsel 

223 


THE  MEMOIRS  OF 


to  ride  quietly  to  Bambrich,  and  there  he  might,  when  he  pleased, 
take  a  boat  and  go  over  to  Angus,  where  he  would  have  leisure  to 
convene  the  towns  of  Perth  and  Dundee,  and  the  country  there- 
abouts. But  this  advice  was  also  overthrown  by  those  who  were 
upon  the  contrary  part. 

Thus  we  being  commanded  by  his  Majesty  to  ride  home,  and  to 
warn  the  country  in  case  they  were  besieged  within  the  tower,  we 
obeyed.  My  brother  that  same  night,  by  the  v/ay,  was  advertised 
by  one  of  the  earl  of  Bothwell's  company,  that  he  was  already  in 
Fife,  and  would  be  in  Falkland  against  supper-time.  Upon  which 
advertisement  he  sent  his  gentleman,  called  Robert  Auchinleck, 
to  acquaint  his  Majesty  therewith,  and  to  request  him  to  enter 
within  the  tower  in  due  time.  When  the  said  Robert  declared 
the  matter  unto  his  Majesty,  they  all  laughed  him  to  scorn,  calling 
him  a  fool.  The  said  Robert  returning  malecontent  to  be  so 
mocked,  met  the  earl  of  Bothwell  and  his  company  upon  the 
height  of  the  Lomonds,  when  it  was  already  dark  night,  and 
turned  incontinently,  as  if  he  had  been  one  of  their  company. 
He  used  great  diligence  to  be  first  at  his  Majesty.  Entring  within 
the  palace  of  Falkland,  he  closed  the  gates  himself,  and  cried 
continually  to  cause  his  Majesty  enter  within  the  tower  ;  who  at 
length  believed  him,  and  mocked  him  no  more. 

The  earl  of  Bothwell  at  his  coming  had  petards  to  break  up 
gates  and  doors.  It  was  not  without  ground  alledged,  that  some 
of  those  who  shot  out  of  the  tower  for  his  Majesty's  defence, 
charged  their  culverins  with  Paper.  But  some  of  his  Majesty's 
houshold-officers  shot  out  bullets,  which  gave  the  earl  and  his 
company  a  great  scar  ;  as  also  the  King's  being  within  the  tower 
before  he  was  surprized.  And  supposing  that  the  country  would 
gather  together,  the  said  earl  and  his  company  retired  and  fled, 
none  pursuing  them  :  whereas  a  few  might  easily  have  overtaken, 
and  overthrown  them.  That  same  night  I  lay  in  my  boots  upon 
my  bed,  expecting  word  from  Falkland,  where  there  was  one  left 
to  be  ready  for  that  effect.  At  whose  back-coming,  I  with  other 
friends  and  neighbours  did  ride  to  convene  the  country  about 
Coupar,  to  have  rescued  his  Majesty.  But  the  King  immediately 
sent  me  advertisement,  that  the  earl  was  fled  ;  yet  he  desired  me 
to  bring  these  forward  whom  he  knew  I  would  convene  for  his 
relief  ;  as  they  did  to  the  number  of  3,000  that  afternoon.  Thus 
God  miraculously  delivered  his  Majesty,  as  He  had  done  divers 
times  before. 

About  this  time  came  to  his  Majesty'  an  honest  gentleman  from 
Ireland,  called  who  made  offers  of  consequence 

to  his  Majesty.  Whereof  the  Queen  of  England  was  incon- 
tinently advertised,  and  desired  to  require  the  said  gentleman  to 
be  delivered  to  her  :  which  the  most  part  of  the  council  counselled 
his  Majesty  to  do.  But  the  justice-clerk,  my  brother,  and  I,  were 
of  a  contrary  opinion.     Which  deed  did  great  harm  to  the  settle- 

224 


SIR  JAMES  MELVILLE 


ment  of  his  Majesty's  affairs  in  England  and  Ireland.  This  I 
speak  with  great  regret,  because  it  was  so  far  against  his  Alajesty's 
own  mind  ;  and  yet  he  suffered  it  to  be  done,  because  the  chief 
ring-leaders  advised  it,  who  have  been  always  won  to  the  devotion 
of  England. 

Now  the  prince  being  born  at  Stirling  the  day  of  June,  in 

the  year  his  ISIajestA"  thought  fit  to  send  ambassadors  to 

England,  Denmark,  France  and  Flanders,  to  require  their  am- 
bassadors to  be  sent  to  the  baptism  of  the  prince  his  first-born  son. 
The  council  were  commanded  to  nominate  such  as  were  meetest 
to  be  sent  on  that  message  ;  as  they  did.  Yet  some  obtained  that 
commission  who  were  very  unmeet  for  that  errand  ;  as  Sir  William 
Keith  :  for  he  could  neither  speak  Latin,  French  nor  Flemmings. 
The  laird  of  Easter-Weems  procured  to  carry  the  commission  to 
France,  and  also  to  England,  because  he  was  to  go  thither  about 
his  own  affairs,  being  the  King  of  France's  servant.  But  Mr. 
Peter  Young  sped  best,  who  was  sent  to  Denmark,  and  to  the  dukes 
of  Meckleburg  and  Bruns%vick  ;  for  he  got  three  fair  chains.  But 
the  King  of  France  nor  the  Queen  of  England  gave  nothing  ; 
which  they  would  have  been  engaged  to  do,  if  ambassadors 
had  been  sent  to  them  express.  Neither  sent  the  King  any 
ambassadors  here  at  that  time.  The  Queen  of  England  was  once 
resolved  to  have  done  the  same,  till  she  was  advertised  by  her 
own  ambassador  in  France,  that  the  King  was  resolved  to  send 
none.  Then  very  late  she  sent  the  earl  of  Sussex,  to  let  us  see 
that  she  would  ever  be  a  ready  friend,  when  France  would  refuse 
and  ly  back.  On  the  other  part,  the  dukes  of  Meckleburg  and 
Brunswick  were  discontent  that  they  were  so  far  slighted,  as  not 
each  of  them  to  be  thought  worthy  of  an  express.  A  special  day 
was  appointed  for  solemnizing  the  said  baptism.  The  ambassadors 
of  Denmark  and  Dutchland  arrived  almost  together.  His 
Majesty  had  sent  for  me  to  be  there  at  their  coming,  to  receive 
them  and  to  entertain  them.  But  the  ambassadors  of  Meckleburg 
and  Brunswick  would  not  ride  out  of  Leith  in  company  with  the 
Danish  ambassador,  when  they  were  convoyed  up  to  Edinburgh, 
but  desired  a  convoy  apart. 

A  few  days  after  them  arrived  the  ambassadors  of  the  estates 
of  the  Low  Countries,  to  wit,  monsieur  de  Broderode  and  monsieur 
Fulke  great  treasurer  of  Holland  and  Zeland,  who  landed  at  New- 
haven  :  where  I  was  well  accompanied  to  receive  them,  having 
horse  and  footmantles  in  readiness  to  carry  them  up  to  Edinburgh 
to  their  lodgings. 

A  little  before  the  landing  of  the  said  ambassadors,  the  day  of 
the  baptism  was  delayed,  because  there  was  neither  word  of  an 
ambassador  from  France  or  England,  and  the  King's  chapel  in  the 
castle  of  Stirling,  which  was  cast  down  to  be  built  again  in  a  better 
form,  was  not  yet  completed  :  so  that  the  ambassadors  were 
ordered  to  remain  in  Edinburgh  till  all  might  be  put  in  good  order. 

22S 


THE  MEMOIRS  OF 


Therefore  his  Majesty  appointed  the  master  of  his  houshold, 
and  my  lord  Tungland  my  brother,  together  with  me,  to  entertain 
them  upon  his  charges,  and  also  to  bear  them  company.  After 
that  they  had  tarried  longer  in  Edinburgh,  (there  being  no 
appearance  of  any  ambassadors  from  France  or  England)  we  were 
commanded  with  some  others  of  the  council  to  cqnvoy  them  to 
Stirling  ;  where  his  Majesty  made  his  excuse  that  they  were  so 
long  delayed  at  Edinburgh.  But  they  alledged,  they  had  great 
contentment  in  our  company.  Which  his  Majesty  forgot  not  to 
declare  before  the  whole  council,  giving  me  thanks,  alledging  that 
I  had  done  him  good  offices,  and  this  among  the  rest,  which  he 
would  never  forget  ;  and  that  he  had  three  other  of  my  brothers, 
all  fit  for  such  matters,  and  for  foreign  affairs.  fc;-- 

Now  being  in  doubt  of  the  English  ambassadors,  the  ceremony 
was  to  be  solemnized  without  longer  delay.  In  the  mean  time, 
there  came  word  that  the  earl  of  Sussex  was  upon  his  journey 
toward  Scotland,  for  the  Queen  his  mistress,  on  whom  the  action 
stayed.  The  day  of  the  solemnity,  there  was  great  business  for 
their  honours  and  feats.  That  being  agreed,  there  was  an  empty 
chair  set  before  the  rest  for  the  King  of  France's  ambassador. 
The  order  of  the  banquet  and  triumph  I  leave  to  others  to  set 
out. 

When  the  ambassadors  had  audience  of  the  Queen's  Majesty, 
I  was  appointed  to  stand  a  little  behind,  and  next  unto  her  Majesty. 
To  the  English,  Danish  and  Dutch  ambassadors,  her  Majesty 
made  answer  herself.  But  though  she  could  speak  seemingly 
French,  yet  she  rounded  in  my  ear,  to  declare  her  answer  to  the 
ambassador  of  the  states  of  Holland.  Then  every  one  of  them, 
by  order,  gave  their  presents.  The  jewels  of  precious  stones  the 
Queen  received  in  her  own  hand,  and  then  delivered  them  unto 
me,  to  put  them  again  in  their  cases,  and  lay  them  upon  a  table 
which  was  prepared  in  the  mids  of  the  chamber  to  set  them  upon. 
The  Queen  of  England's  had  a  great  shew,  being  a  fair  cupboard 
of  silver  overgilt,  cunningly  wrought,  and  some  cups  of  massy 
gold.  The  ambassador  of  the  states  presented  a  golden  box, 
wherein  was  written  in  parchment,  in  letters  of  gold,  '  A  gift  of  a 
yearly  pension  to  the  prince  of  five  thousand  by  year,'  with 

great  cups  of  massy  gold,  two  especially,  which  were  so  weighty, 
that  it  was  all  that  I  could  lift  them,  and  set  them  down  upon  the 
said  table.  I  leave  it  to  others  to  set  down  the  weight  and  value. 
But  I  say,  these  which  were  of  gold,  which  should  have  been  kept 
in  store  to  posterity,  were  soon  melted  and  disposed  :  but  if  they 
had  been  preserved,  as  they  ought  to  have  been,  those  who  advised 
to  break  them  would  have  wanted  their  part. 

All  these  ambassadors  being  dispatched  and  well  rewarded, 
those  of  Denmark  were  advised,  by  John  Lindsey  of  Monmuir. 
to  cause  with  all  diligence  send  new  ambassadors,  to  require  the 
contract  of  marriage  made  in  Denmark  to  be  fulfilled  ;   alledging 

226 


SIR  JAMES  MELVILLE 


that  the  chancellor,  who  had  made  it,  had  left  out  the  rents  of  the 
abbay  of  Dunfermling  fraudfully,  and  had  taken  in  fee  to  himself 
all  the  lordship  of  Musselburgh.  For  this  end  tvvo  ambassadors 
were  sent  from  Denmark  ;  upon  whom  I  was  appointed  to  attend, 
to  see  them  well  entertained.  As  they  were  well  instructed,  so 
they  happened  upon  a  meet  time  ;  for  the  chancellor  was  for  the 
time  decourted,  and  my  brother  was  ambassador  for  his  Majesty 
in  England.  So  the  chancellor  was  caused  to  renounce  his  part. 
And  because  my  brother  Sir  Robert  was  absent,  young  Sir  Robert 
his  son,  and  I,  obliged  us  that  his  part,  which  was  thirteen  chalders 
of  victual,  should  be  also  renounced  at  his  return  ;  which  was 
accordinglj-  done.  His  Majesty  promised  to  him  as  much  heritage 
in  another  part,  in  respect  that  his  gift  was  obtained  long  before 
the  contract  of  marriage.  Divers  others,  who  had  portions 
of  these  lands,  were  likewise  compelled  to  renounce,  either 
voluntarily,  or  by  a  new  law  made  for  that  effect. 


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